Perfect Cupcake Frosting and Filling

I always hear people say, “I’m not a frosting person.” And while part of me thinks that’s ridiculous, I can understand to a certain extent when so many frosting are sickeningly sweet and heavy- or greasy-feeling. My favorite frosting is the kind that is more like whipped cream. I used to actually fold whipped cream into classic buttercream to get that lighter texture and not-so-rich taste. Then I realized that I could get that same result with this very unusual method. I’d say it’s the perfect frosting. It’s not so thick and sweet that you need a gallon of milk to get it down your throat. It’s mild and smooth, and light as air. I also love it because it doesn’t take away from a good cupcake like other really rich frostings can. This frosting has a similar feeling and texture to a Swiss Buttercream, but with way less effort. It’s great as a filling OR a frosting. Take a peek at this…

Let me show you!

The frosting starts out with a mixture of all purpose flour and milk.

And even though I’m showing it here being whisked together, I’ve actually found you’ll get a much smoother result if you mix this part in a blender first and then pour it in your pan.

Now comes the weird part. You’re going to cook this mixture until it gets thick–it happens fast and you’ll want to have a rubber spatula and constantly smash/stir it to keep it smooth.

I usually take it off the heat when it looks like this photo above. There are still some wet spots but as you stir it all comes together like this:

Don’t taste it. It’s not frosting yet! Pop it in the fridge; it needs to cool completely (I sometimes pop it in the freezer if I want it to cool fast.) Put it in a bowl and smoosh it around and stir every few minutes to cool it off.

While it’s chilling, place some real, high-quality butter (definitely no margarine) and granulated sugar (not powdered sugar!) in a stand mixer.

Whip it up for a few minutes so it’s light and creamy. I use the whisk attachment on my kitchenaid, but any paddle should work. Then you’ll add that glob of flour. I know. Weird!

I’m warning you right now it’s going to look weird at first. Like, what the heck did I do weird. But keep going. You’ve got to whip it for a long time for all the sugar to dissolve and everything to come together. Don’t be startled if it looks curdled and weird. Eventually it will look like fluffy soft clouds of heaven.

I usually give it a little taste and if I can still feel quite a bit of granulated sugar I keep on whipping. Sometimes it takes 5 minutes, other times I let it go for almost 10 or so! It’s worth it for this silky, fluffy, magical mixture.

Pipe it or spread it or fill it or whatever. Anyway you eat it, it’s fantastic.

Helpful Tips

1. Use real butter, and a good name-brand. Cheap butter does weird things.

2. If you beat for the 6-8 minutes and the mixture still looks strange, beat longer and at a higher speed if you can. It should come together, but it takes a little patience!

3. I personally think this frosting is best eaten fresh. You can store for a few hours at room temperature, or try storing in the fridge overnight, letting it come to room temperature on its own, and then re-beating to fluff. If you want to frost cupcakes or a cake the day before, refrigerate and just let come to room temp after.

4. Add extracts to your hearts content; lemon and almond are both wonderful! Food coloring is also okay.

5. The white sugar can be exchanged for brown. Try 1/2 white 1/2 brown for a warm caramel flavor.

6. Do not try to make other substitutions or additions. Sour cream, fruit purees etc. can do disastrous things. Some people have had amazing success, just experiment at your own risk.

7. If trying to decide whether or not to double it- double it. Chances are you’ll want more. It’s a rather small batch, but on purpose.

1 batch will not look like much, but it can spread on (just with a knife, a normal amount) 24 cupcakes. If you want to pipe it thick, definitely double it.

Perfect Cupcake Frosting and Filling

Description

This light, creamy, dreamy frosting is THE perfect cupcake frosting and filling!

Ingredients

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/2 cup milk (whole milk is best, but I’ve used non-fat when it’s all I have and it’s actually fine) 1/2 cup real butter, slightly softened (I prefer salted, but you can use also unsalted and add salt to taste) 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or other flavor if you wish)

Instructions

Whisk together the flour and the milk. Heat in a small sauce pan on medium heat. Whisk continuously until it starts to thicken. Let it cook, while stirring with a rubber spatula, until you can start to see the bottom of the pan. Continue to cook until mixture has the consistency of thick pudding or paste.

Put mixture in the fridge and let it cool completely; it’s fine if it stays in there long enough to get chilly, you just don’t want it warm at all. As it’s cooling, feel free to stir it occasionally to speed up the process and keep it from forming a crust on top. You can also do this quickly in the freezer, just keep an eye on it so it doesn’t freeze.

Using the whisk attachment on an electric stand mixer, beat the butter and the sugar for a minute or two until well combined and fluffy. While beating, add in the thickened milk mixture and the flavor extracts. Beat to combine and then scrape down the sides. Mixture will separate and look messy, keep beating! Continue beating until mixture comes together and is light and fluffy, about 7-8 minutes, but time varies. Take a sample of frosting between your fingers; frosting is done when light and fluffy and sugar granules are dissolved.

Just tried this and must’ve done something wrong. Maybe using margarine in place of butter doesn’t work. My 3yr old thought it tasted so yummy though. I ended up adding an entire bag of powdered sugar, just ended up tasting like regular frosting, and I have about 4 cups of it. I’ll have to try again.

cords, compulsive commenting disorder?! i dont see where Millionaire Mommy blamed the blog. have you checked out your own inability to read and comprehend? she blamed herself more than she needed and still found a way to say something positive.

are you sara’s mommy 🙂

sara great recipe (although if you would try something without butter, it would impress me immensely) but one of your comments to someone else’s unsuccessful attempt makes me think you don’t always take negative feedback too well.

Alright Millionaire Mommy- I don’t know if you’re a regular reader or not, but if you are, you should know in my recipes to ALWAYS USE REAL BUTTER! Lol. Especially in something like this where butter is a main ingredient. It’s what makes this frosting so yummy. I made sure to write “real butter” in the recipe because it would just be icky with margarine! Plus, the real problem- which is probably what happened with yours, is that margarine has extra moisture and other compounds in there, so when you’re whipping everything together, it messes up the chemical composition that would otherwise make it so light and fluffy.

Give it another shot- with BUTTER! 🙂

Oh- and you didn’t use powdered sugar in the original recipe, did you? Make sure to use granulated.

this is the second time I have made this recipe, and I had major frosting failure – on my daughter’s 12th birthday. :0( And before ya’ll crucify me for not being able to read a recipe, I used REAL butter, I used granulated sugar and all that. I cooled the flour/milk mixture. The butter was not very soft, though and I’m wondering if that was my mistake? I beat it with the sugar, and it softened, but was not super light and fluffy. Would that alone keep it from completely emulsifying? It looked awful – I had to throw it away and go to the store to buy a cake. After saying a few bad words.

The first time I made it, I think my butter was a touch too soft, but it emulsified nicely, and I just put the cupcakes in the fridge for a little afterwards. Tasted great. How did I screw up so bad?

It could have been that you had grease in your mixing bowl or on your whisk attachment. You should always wipe it all down with vinegar first. I’ve read this in another blog once. Good luck if you try it again.

I think you just had to let it keep mixing. She did say that if it didn’t look smooth keep it going and eventually it would come together. So this is possibly a recipe that calls for lots of patience 😉

Okay, my frosting came out funny. And it tasted a little funny, too, so I think I did something wrong (it tasted like grocery store frosting; it may have something to do with my increasing belief that Walmart and Sam’s Club butter isn’t actually 100% butter. And I’m not even a conspiracy theorist). When I do this all over again, here’s my plan (because it also totally trashed my kitchen–seriously, MASSIVE usage of lots of dishes here! 🙂 )

–Make the frosting in advance. I think part of the problem was that my kitchen was still too warm after baking the cupcakes, so that, combined with the long beating time, made the butter semi-melty.

–Make the cupcakes when it was convenient. Then hold onto them until I’m ready to fill them. I think doing it all at once was what made it so messy.

I’m pleased to report that the second time I made this, it wasn’t weird. I don’t know WHAT the deal was the first time (although my kitchen really WAS hot…I’m thinking that had something to do with it), but the second time I made it, it was amazing! Yummy yummy yummy!

I’ve been making a version of this for most of my life. It will be a mess if your kitchen is too warm. If it starts melting while you’re beating it, put bags of frozen vegetables around the bowl. You may be able to save it. I usually make the cooked flour mixture while the cake is baking. When the cake is cool enough to frost, the frosting mixture is cool enough too. Our traditional chocolate family birthday cake uses this frosting with a bit of mint and a bit of green color. Amazing!

Can you add a flavor to this – like a tiny bit of lemon (or lime or coconut) powder? (the ‘real’ kind of powder…?) Just curious. I’m looking for a whipped, light, lemony or limey or cocunutty recipe, and I have some of the powders from KAF… so I was thinking if a half a teaspoon was mixed in at the sugar-butter-beating stage? Whatdyareckon?

Oh Mary Mary Mary, you have no idea. I just made this a few weeks ago and I added 1t of pure lemon extract in (along with the vanilla) and it was to DIE for. Seriously I could have eaten it all with a spoon! I put it in between little mini lemon cakes and everyone was asking me what the heck was in there because it was so yummy. I’m actually concocting a dessert right now to post that uses it. So yes- flavor it up! I’ve wanted to try coconut, and also peppermint (on a chocolate cupcake, can you imagine?)

I used this recipe for my first baking attempt. FOOL PROOF. Absolutely delicious. I just had some trouble with getting rid of all the flour lumps, which is why I keep getting small jelly bits in my icing. Hahaha. But nonetheless, it tasted fantastic. My mom even asked me for the recipe;)

I started baking regularly because my cupcakes were such a success the first time, and I tried adding some extracts. My little sis loved the one I added strawberry extract to. And my brother, the one with mango extract. While my dad (who really isn’t a fan of icing or anything sweet), actually liked the one I added some almond extract to. Just have fun experimenting. I did and loved it ♥ Thanks so much for the recipe!

I had an issue of the small jelly bits, too. Drove me NUTS as I was trying to pipe the icing onto cupcakes for my daughter’s birthday. It took me twice as long because I had to keep stopping to clean out the tip. Any suggestions to preventing this problem? Did I not mix it long enough? But it was delicious, and everyone was complimenting me on the cupcakes, but it sure was a pain to get them iced!

I actually came across a similar flour based frosting before, the only difference was that it required icing sugar rather than granulated sugar. The instructions for the other recipe I came across said to beat the cooked flour mixture really well just before you add it to the butter and sugar mixture. I use a hand mixer so I just quickly whipped it and I never had a problem with coming across jelly bits in my frosting 🙂

I don’t fancy extra steps like straining the mixture after cooking or cleaning out icing tips, so I measure the milk into my blender, add the flour, and whip it up before cooking in a pan. I just read that adding the sugar at this point also helps speed the process of the beating, since the sugar is already dissolved; I’m trying that today, since the blender method works so well (I’ve made it that way at least eight times in the last year, and I live in a HOT part of CA…I just use butter straight from the fridge and let my Bosch work the miracle, it doesn’t take as long as most people say if I do that). Anyhoot, try the blender, you won’t be sorry.

Thanks for leaving your comment the other day on Needle 'n Thread! I will certainly try the flavorings – can't decide if I should do lemon or coconut first! In any case, tomorrow is Saturday, and you have inspired me to BAKE. I'll let you know how they turn out!

I've subscribed to your feed here – and spent, oh… probably too much time meandering about. There are only 100 things I want to bake tomorrow. But I'll settle for the cupcakes & frosting!

How long does this frosting last? I plan to make it on a Saturday to serve on Monday…will it keep? And have you tried it with brown sugar instead of white? I’m trying my hand at some cookie-dough cupcakes, and I thought a brown sugar icing would be perfect!

ya know Dorothy, I haven’t had a lot of luck making this frosting ahead of time. When I kept mine in the fridge over night I found it started to separate. So since then I’ve only made it fresh. You might want to do a practice run and see how it stores best. Also I’ve never tried it with brown sugar, but you’re right- if it worked I bet it would taste amazing with cookie dough cupcakes! If I were you I’d start experimenting! Will you come back and let us know how it goes? I’m curious about all of those questions myself 🙂

This came out just like you described it: like the consistency of whipped cream, light and fluffy. The texture is great; it isn’t too rich and sweet like store-bought icing. I think I’ll try this on some cupcakes and take them to school with me–my friends will love them! How did you find out how to make icing with granulated sugar?

I’d really like to make this for my daughter’s b-day cupcakes at school, but I don’t think I can stomach getting up to make frosting “fresh” on a school day morning (on top of everything else!)… can I frost the cupcakes the night before and leave them room temp overnight, or will something weird and sicky happen?

Just found and tried your recipe. Loved it, it was just like you said light, fluffy and just the right amount of sweetness. Have taken a beginner Wilton cake decorating class and tried making small flowers and leaves and it worked pretty good. I will definitely use it, can’t wait to try the chocolate version too. Got it from your site already. Thank you.

It just so happens that I frosted cupcakes with this last night and left one out all night to see what happens! Don’t worry, nothing “sicky” happens, lol. But it does thicken/harden a little when sitting out that long. It is definitely MUCH better fresh. It almost takes on the texture of soft butter when left out. If I were you and you don’t want to make it the morning of- I’d probably stick to a classic buttercream. Although this stuff is really good so I hope you try it!

I just want everyone to know we love this frosting. It's become our primary frosting besides ganache which I love but it too decadent for others. I know there is discussion about this lasting overnight….well let me tell you… I always make my kids cupcakes for school the day before. I leave the cupcakes out over night for at least 18 hours and they still taste fine the next day. I don't refrigerate it or leave it uncovered and they come out perfect. If it is very hot they might get runny but that's the except not the rule.

Savoryouarsweetness- I'm so glad you posted that, thanks! I guess the trick is to not refrigerate overnight, which makes sense because I think it's the hardening of the butter than can cause condensation.

Okay what am I doing wrong? I tried this recipe TWICE and both times it tasted pretty good but the consistency was like cottage cheese. Is it my Walmart butter, the speed on my mixer, how long I beat it (the first time around 8 minutes, the second time around 15 on medium high speed)Got any suggestions?

Okay, my guess (especially if you take a look at my earlier comment) is the Walmart butter–I swear to you all, that stuff isn't 100% butter. So give some Land O'Lakes a try and see if it works any better.

I have attempted to make this a few times…with various results. It's my first time to really make icing from scratch, so I'm probably making simple mistakes. But one question is about the following…is this a step I am missing?

"Even though it's thick, you can still it through a mesh strainer (just whisk in the strainer to push the thick stuff through)"

amy- The only purpose of straining the flour mixture is to get rid of any clumps because they some times will hold up through the beating process and you'll have little flour lumps in your frosting. So yes, I always whisk mine through a strainer before cooling, but that shouldn't make or break it, ya know?

I wish I could pinpoint what goes wrong when this doesn't turn out for people. I've honestly never had it *not* work so I'm not sure what happens!

Melissa- yes it should work. Just keep it at the highest speed you can without it splattering all over the place and keep it going for the full amount of time. And recruit a helper so your arms don't get tired!

April–Someday we should do a tutorial on cupcake swirls! 🙂 It's really very easy–like, once you get the hang of it, it's much, much faster than icing them by hand.

Anyway, you'll need an icing bag (or a large, heavy-duty Ziploc bag), a Wilton 1M star tip, and a large coupler. You can get most of the Wilton tips and couplers at Walmart, but I've never been able to find the 1M star tip or large coupler there. I've seen them both at Hobby Lobby and Michael's.

Anyway, use the coupler to attach the tip to the bag and then fill the bag with icing. Pipe a swirl around the outside of the cupcake and then, while maintaining the pressure and not breaking the flow, make a smaller swirl on top of the big swirl and end with a little flourish. Does that make sense? It's a lot easier than it sounds. You could even get a cheap can of frosting to practice with. Anyway, let us know if you still have questions! 🙂

Sara… THANK YOU! who would have thought white sauce could turn this butter frosting into silky and smooth mixture? It's also very light, very similar to swiss buttercream, but 30% less fat and sugar, I'll say! I tried this recipe for cupcakes frosting yesterday for a 3 years old who loves pink, skeptical at first.. but it turned out beautifully. Thanks again Sara! Well done.

Note, I kept the frosting in fridge for 1 hour and it turned curdly… I solved this by beating them for a good 5 minutes and it's silky smooth again.

THANK YOU! This frosting is amazing and SO easy. I have been looking for a perfect buttercream for my son's first birthday. Regular frostings are just WAY too sweet. I just whipped up a batch of this during naptime and it was so quick and it came together so quickly and perfectly. It leaves no oily weirdness and tastes like perfection- not too sugary, not too buttery. YUM!

I wanted to wait until after I'd made this a couple of times to write a review… I made it for the fourth time yesterday, and have a few observations to share.

1. BEATING TIME. The first time I made this I set my stand mixer on speed 6 and beat it for 7 minutes. I kept peaking in at it, and at 7 minutes it looked like a disaster – separated, gloppy, curdled, and gross. I figured I had nothing to lose by continuing to beat it, so I did. By the time I hit 9 minutes it was starting to transform, and by 10 minutes it was perfect. So now I beat it on the speed 8 setting, and by 7.5 – 8 minutes, it is perfect.

2. "CHEAP" BUTTER VS. NAME BRAND BUTTER. For the reviewers who commented on the difference between "cheap" butter and name brand butter, I think there is some truth to this. With my first batch I used name brand butter and it turned out great. With the second batch, the small grocery store where I pick up last-minute items was out of the name brand unsalted butter, so I had to get the store brand. No big deal, right? WRONG.

I did everything with the frosting the SAME way I did the first time, and although it did eventually start to resemble frosting after a LONG beating time, the finished product was very… umm… well, greasy. If you looked at it closely, it looked like it was separated in some parts of the frosting (kind of like if you didn't scrape down the bowl very well and it wasn't well mixed, although that wasn't the case). I also noticed a strange "greasy" film on the inside of the mixing bowl that I had not noticed the first time around. The taste didn't seem to be much different (still tasted very good) – but I still ended up throwing it out b/c it did not LOOK appetizing at all.

I remade the frosting two days later with name brand butter and it turned out perfectly. I have no idea if this was a fluke or not, but I don't plan on chancing it again.

3. STORAGE & SHELF LIFE. I have had these babies out on my counter for as long as two nights/three days in a sealed tight storage container and they stayed very fresh and yummy.

Anyway, I can tell you from experience that the frosting keeps really well at room temp as long as its sealed tight. I did find that if you plan on keeping them for a couple of days, be sure to frost the cupcakes clear to the edge to keep the cake moist. Otherwise, the cake gets a bit dry around the edges.

A couple of random notes…– This frosting is very white and beautiful, not off-white/yellow that you're used to seeing with homemade frosting with butter in them.– This frosting is even more light and airy than I expected from reading the original recipe and reviews. The density REALLY is like whipped cream, but far more tasty! Yes, I know that you said it was… but I'm a seeing-is-believing kind of girl. 🙂– I expected that this frosting may not hold up well to decor on top due to the light, airy texture – but it holds its own! I have used sprinkles, drizzles of chocolate, and even candy pieces – they all turned out perfect without pushing the frosting down or making it fall off the side.– Sara is right about doubling the recipe. By the time you eat some and then pile it high on the cupcakes, one batch is for sure not enough for 24 cupcakes.

In the end I have to say that this is hands down one of the best frostings I've ever made, and it will continue to be a favorite of mine. Truth be told, I haven't made a "real" buttercream frosting since I found this recipe (and I might not for quite some time!) I think you could pile this stuff on just about anything and make it good! I just made them for a July 4th picnic and someone said they were glad that I "brought those cupcakes with the good icing!" 🙂 Thanks again for this awesome recipe Sara!

I second that–GREAT review! I tried making it the first time with a generic brand of butter, and while it was good tasting I agree that it had a kind of greasy film…it didn’t get quite as light as most people say, either. I also desperately wanted to know if I could make them today for a picnic tomorrow, so was happy to see that isn’t a problem as long as you don’t refrigerate them! I also thought your cupcakes on your blog turned out great! Thank you so much for taking the time to post such a helpful review! I’m off to buy some Land 0’Lakes butter and looking forward to frosting nirvana (something which I didn’t think existed outside of ganache…I hate powdered sugar frostings with a passion!!!). 🙂

Although this was the strangest frosting I have ever made – the process was strange it turned out wonderful! I love the texture, how light and fluffy it is and the taste is awesome. I am a frosting snob and truly only eat cake for the frosting so it has to be good! I made two batchs. The first one I think I cooked the flour/milk mixture too fast and too hot and it got real thick – It was so thick I couldn't put it threw the strainer so I didn't but it still turned out great. The second batch I did a better job in getting the pudding consistency and it worked with the strainer. Thanks girls- I have a new favorite frosting recipe.

Heidi–Bread flour has a lot more gluten than all-purpose flour, so I'm thinking you may run into some problems. Based on the comments we've gotten, that this recipe is already a little on the tempermental side, so if it were me, I probably wouldn't tempt fate…get thee to a grocery store, girl!! 🙂

I've made this frosting, to rave reviews, a few times now. My problem is I want to make a cream cheese variation as I am making chocolate zucchini cupcakes. I'm wondering if you can just subtitute some of the butter out for creamcheese (the block kind), is it worth tampering with such a perfect recipe?

I'm so glad you love this. I say tamper away! I've been experimenting with all kinds of variations. I have a really good one coming up in a couple of weeks. Next thing on my list is to figure it out in chocolate. I would LOVE to see it with cream cheese. I say give it a whirl and then come back and give us a report!

I just wanted to jump in on the subject of tinkering with this frosting recipe…strawberry DOES NOT WORK! I've made the standard frosting recipe several times before, all with great success. Today I thought it would be fun to sub out half of the milk with some reduced strawberry puree (frozen strawberries, mashed and cooked down to 1/4 original volume). I think maybe the acidity from the strawberry is wreaking havoc on the frosting, preventing the emulsion from forming. The mixture looked curdled for the longest time, so I kept beating…which resulted in a complete breakdown of the icing into a pink pudding soup! Oh well, at least I know now what NOT to add.

Thanks for the report Dorthy! I can see why a fruit puree wouldn't work very well. Flavored extracts work beautifully though, so you could always try that route next time. Not as great as fresh fruit, but a great back up option!

I really like the look of the is recipe, but I still find it extremely sweet. Any suggestions on toing down the sweetness? Add a little salt perhaps. I having also been using low fat milk, do you think that full cream milk might help tone down the sweetness? Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Clair- not sure what to tell ya girl. I don't think the milk will affect the sweetness at all, and I'd be wary about decreasing the sugar overall because you probably won't get the same texture. But if you wanted to play around with it, I'd cut the sugar by a couple of tablespoons and see if it works. Good luck!

Amazingly good frosting!!! I made it with margarine (I know… but I didn't have any butter and my car isn't starting.. so yeah… ) and it worked and tasted very very good! Thank you very much for the recipe! ^_^

I LOVE this frosting. I am throwing a baby shower this weekend and the mom has been craving white cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Do you have a chocolate version of this? I just love the texture of this recipe and would rather use it than a buttercream. Thanks!

Hi, I wanted to know if I can use food coloring? I want to make some cupcakes for my daughter's high school volleyball team and want to use school colors. I read all the posts til I got to the bottom and then, the question did come up however with no answer!! Please let me know asap!Thanks,Liz

Sorry Liz, that's because I emailed the answer and sometimes I forget to write it here too! The answer is YES- food coloring works great! I use gel or paste color so I don't add in too much moisture. And just whip it in quickly at the end when the frosting is all ready.

This frosting was just what I was looking for. It completely rivals my favorite cupcake store! It was light and fluffy and sat up beautifully on the cupcakes when I swirled them on with my pastry bag. I have searched the world over for this recipe …thank you so much for sharing. I'm so happy!! I've already shared it too. I learned one thing already…I need to take the milk and flour off the heat the minute it starts to set up. I kept on whipping it with the whisk and I had no lumps…I didn't strain it and it still worked perfectly.

this frosting is absolutely sensational. i trialled a lemon variation yesterday for a tea party next week, and it was a big hit. Couple of things:

– i heated the flour and the milk, whisking almost constantly, until it was VERY, VERY thick, and skipped the strainer step.– i used a regular hand-held flat paddle beater on the highest setting.– right at the end, i very, very gently folded in the zest of one lemon and applied to lemon cupcakes with a blunt knife. – Decorated with candied lemon peel. Perfection.

the funny thing is, when you add the ultra thick flour milk glop to the beaten butter/sugar, it whips to that gorgeous silken state in about 2 mins on high. i'm not sure if the same result would be achieved with a whisk attachment though.

Also, when I refrigerated the iced cupcakes overnight, the frosting hardened to the consistency of a light, perfect buttercream. Absolutely no separation or problems at all.

Just wondering if this could be a solution to the storage problem that people have been experiencing with this frosting?

This frosting looks really good. I've been looking for an easy frosting that doesn't taste like that butter and powdered sugar kind. My question is if the granulated sugar completely dissolves. The last time I made frosting from scratch, the recipe called for having the sugar cooked over a double boiler with egg whites to create a meringue before beating in the butter.

Thank you so much. This frosting plus the rainbow cupcakes was the hit of my daughter's birthday get together. I was a little worried that the frosting wasn't sweet enough, but it was perfect with the cupcake. Thanks again!

I always feel very comfortable in the kitchen, but with this frosting I felt a little uneasey because the texture was not matching your steps Sara. This may be a strange question, but the butter should it be cold, room temp? I know not to melt it or anything, but I thought maybe my butter temp could be the ruining factor, still tasted delicious…but a little ugly to eyes…so I closed them and ate it anyway! Just curious about the butter temp?Love your site, thanks!

Ashley, I let my butter sit at room temp for a few minutes, but not long enough to come completely to room temp. Does that make sense? So it's still on the chilly side. This frosting is tricky because it's SO good, but it can be temperamental for some people and I'm not sure what the issue is! Definitely try it again though, sometimes it's just some fluke thing.

I tried this after re-reading the recipe several times and reading ALL the comments. 🙂 Sadly, it never came together (I even beat it for about 20 min altogether, in my stand mixer)… I used my fave butter, but it's cultured (European-style, organic), and I suspect that's what kept it from homogenizing correctly. If anyone has had success with cultured butter, I'd love to hear it. Looks awesome!

I love this frosting! Like one of the later commentators, I stir the milk/flour mixture until it's really thick, and then it whips up a lot faster, and I even like the texture better. My sister pointed me out to this site, and I've used it on other things besides cupcakes, and it was delicious!

hi, i'm thinking of making this recipe for giving out to friends on valentines day, but i was wondering if (since i live in a hot climate 29 degrees Celsius) should i leave these 60 or so cupcakes in the fridge instead? and since i am deciding to make the high-tops, what is the easiest mean of transporting them to give to people? i wanted to give them in individual plastic containers along with other condiments… what do you think? thanks in advance for your advice

Olly, as long as it's not that hot *inside* your house, they should be fine left at room temp. It will definitely separate after being chilled and then thawed again.

As for transportation, that's up to you. You can buy individual cupcake holders and cute boxes that protect the tops. I get them at my local craft store. Or you could put a cupcake in a plastic cup. That's all I can think of!

This was amazing. I was very sceptical about the sugar disolving, but how wrong was I. I did put the iced cupcakes in the fridge. Ate the last one 3 days later. My frosting didn't separate. A definite keeper. Thanks so much.

I have been making a slightly different variation of this for many years, but only as a cupcake filling. My recipe calls for half the amount of cooked flour and milk, and instead of 1/2 cup butter it uses 1/4 cup butter or margarine and 1/4 cup shortening. The granulated sugar is 1/3 cup instead of 1/2 cup. I have never had a bit of trouble with it and have never had to put the cooked mixture through a sieve. I'm going to try it as a frosting this afternoon.

Even though this is a loooong time after this post, I played around with making a cupcake recipe in "normal" and "gluten-free" versions. I wanted them to taste nearly the same, yet be safe for my gluten-free coworkers to enjoy.

YUM!!! I just made a trial batch of this frosting and it is light and fluffy and reminds me of the whipped cream frosting that I've been trying to find a recipe for forever! I do think it will taste even better when I add lemon extract to go with the lemon cupcakes I'm going to make for my niece's baby shower (I detect a bit of the flour taste when I use vanilla for flavoring). I had the mixture really smooth to begin with so I wonder if I would still have to strain?? Easy and yummy if you follow directions and use the right ingredients and I would also imagine it is important NOT to over cook the flour/milk mixture. THANK YOU!

I had a bake sale recently and used this frosting recipe for the cupcakes and someone came up to me and said that this reminded him of dunkaroos which I thought was the best compliment ever for anyone who understand that those were by far the best childhood snack ever! he also bought like 5 cupcakes!

This is my first time attempting, and I think I might have cooked the flour/milk a little too long. Should I just start over now? or would I be ok to attempt the rest of the recipe?(i tried to read comments to see if you already answered, but thought this would be faster.) THanks!!!

Hi ladies! Love your blog! Slightly off-topic question for you: I found this icing/filling recipe on another site and made it, but the whisk on my Wolfgang Puck stand mixer doesn't get all the way to the bottom of the bowl, so I ended up beating with a hand mixer. I have heard that people with Kitchenaids have had the same problem. What type of stand mixer do you use, and is this a problem?

Nicole, we both use kitchenaids and there is a little space at the bottom that doesn't get hit. But it's nothing that isn't solved by stopping once or twice to scrape the bowl. I do however most of the time now use a beaterblade attachment and it scrapes that little black hole at the bottom, as well as the sides. You can read a little blurb about it in this post:

This frosting was amazing…It does take a while for it to come together but it worked great…I was a little worried since I am in Poland right now, and didn't know how the ingredients here would work, cause everything is a little different, but it worked…a great frosting recipe!! Thank you!!!!

I am not a super experience baker and this worked really well for me. When I made the milk and flour, it was very thick so I started over with the same results. I used it anyway and it worked fine. I made a double batch and frosted 50 3" sugar cookies and still had 1 cup left. Everyone kept asking if I had bought them from a bakery because they wanted to lick the icing alone. Thanks!

I know this post is old, but I just wanted to tell you that I was looking for a creamy, light, not too sweet frosting recipe, and this worked PERFECTLY!! I tripled the recipe, as I had 4 dozen cupcakes to frost and I had no problem with it at all, and it got great reviews from both kids and adults. Thanks so much, I will definitely use this again 🙂

I've been wanting to make this for a long time now and I finally had a reason to make cupcakes. I made this twice today, once this morning and once this afternoon. This morning it was fantastic. This afternoon it was not great. I didn't think my kitchen was too warm but apparently it was. I will be making this in the morning from not on! 🙂 Thanks for another amazing recipe!

This may be a silly question, but can this frosting be used for cakes too or is it not the right consistency for the sides of the cake. My mother made a frosting very similar to this years ago but it was half butter/half shortening and used powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar. Can't wait to try it, have cupcakes to do for a confirmation next week.

The first time I tried this I used store brand butter and only had the paddle attachment for my mixer….disaster. Had all the problems that others had. Reread all the comments and decided to give it another try, this time using brand name butter and the whisk attachment. This frosting is without a doubt one of the BEST I have ever had. Brought back memories of the frosting my mother made but it was even better!!! Without a doubt will be my go-to frosting from this point forward. Thanks!!!

This recipee is exactly the one my mother got from the Slavic woman who lived next door to us when I was growing up. We had never seen a frosting that started with a white sauce, but as you have discovered, it makes the best butter frosting ever.

I tried this recipe about a week ago, and it flopped. I have no idea what went wrong, but it was bad. I was hesitant to try it again, but I did. This time it tasted wonderful! Definitely delicious! Thanks for sharing!!

I just tried this frosting, it tasted Yummmm!! But when i was beating the mix, it startted looking silky almost instantly! (despite mine being a flat paddle beater)but in a couple of minutes by the time i got my decorating bag ready it started looking like it was seperating it was not silky it was like cottage cheesy. Also if i beat it again it gets silky but within seconds starts seperating. What m i doing wrong? is it the butter but why did it look silky in the 1st case then?Okay i have a silly question… i want frost my cupcakes can i use the whipped cream u get in those redy made pipe kind tubes at the super market. will it stay or will the cream flatten and deform?

My baby is turning 2 next week and has requested an Elmo cake – would this frosting work if I piped in on with a star tip or smoothed it on and then fluffed it to look like fur? I'm not a big fan of traditional buttercream, and I'm dying to try this frosting!!

Has anyone found a way to make this chocolate? I want to do the chocolate cupcakes with this as a filling and then a chocolate frosting on the top for my daughter's birthday. But of course I'll have to do a practice run ahead of time :).

Awesome, thanks! I cannot wait tot try this! I am planning to do this as cupcakes and then a yellow cake and this sounds like a perfect frosting for that as well!

Any tips on melting chocolate if you are not using a microwave and do not have a double boiler? Any time I do it I usually just heat a big pot of water and put a smaller pot on top of that. I don't own a microwave :).

I made this frosting today for my daughters and my birthday cake. I will admit I was a little nervous, but it was really easy and turned out great! I doubled the recipe and had no problems with it at all. It got rave reviews by everyone. My ex-husband said it was the best frosting I've ever made, and one of my friends, who does cake decorating like a professional said it is now her favorite frosting. Thanks so much!!

Fantastic! Very light and creamy. Worked the very first time I tried it and every time since. Definitely a keeper! Only thing that could be any better would be if it were more white instead of off-white- but that is what you get when you use butter. This is now my go-to buttercream frosting recipe. Thank you for this terrific recipe!!!

You were right, doubling was enough. I ended up making this twice. The first time I used a lot of organic food coloring that unfortunately changed the taste. So I re-made it and used less food coloring and more vanilla. Our ladybug cake wasn't very red, but it was very tasty. Thanks so much!

I originally recieved this recipe from my mother. We call it wallpaper icing. Due to when heating the flour and milk in a sauce pan till it resembles wallpaper paste. It has always been the favorite recipe at our house and when I take it anywhere!Glad your sharing it!

Ok, so I had avoided making this frosting for a LONG time. The whole milk/flour/let-it-cool thing turned me off… too much extra work! But last weekend I made Kate's strawberry cupcakes and since she specifically used this frosting, I thought I'd finally give it a try. Well, I was right about the milk/flour thing, but it was all my own fault. The first time I let it cook too long and it was pretty thick, though I think it would've still work [I was just too chicken to try it]. The next TWO times… well, it was late and I was tired and I somehow glazed over the whole mixing milk and flour and THEN turning on the heat and was adding milk to an already heated pan and… yeah, that didn't work. Fourth time was the charm!! [And I don't think I'll have any problems next time… got ALL my mistakes out of the way!] After that, it all whipped together quite nicely and easily. I whipped the crud out of it and it was very good, though I didn't think it was quite the "near-whipped-cream" consistency everyone was talking about, so I might let it go a little longer next time. It was, however, very silky and tasty and I will be making it again![Oh, and I want to try the chocolate, too!]

I would love to try this recipe for my birthday in three weeks (yes, I have to make my own birthday cake), but I want to know if anyone has tried it gluten free and/or dairy free. If not, I'm going to try it on my own and I can share the results.

I know it’s waaaaay past 2010, but I just found this recipe a few days ago.

I had no problem mixing up the frosting and the consistency was great. BUT, I bake gluten-free and this recipe DOES NOT work with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose flour. Bob’s has a funny taste to it that bakes out, but since frosting isn’t baked, it’s definitely noticeable in a bad way that people don’t want to eat. 🙂 I don’t know if this recipe works well with another GF flour, and I probably won’t try all the options to find out. But, I’d be thrilled if someone else has had a good experience with another blend and would share that info.

Don't worry Aileen, I make my own bday cake too :). I have not tried it gluten free yet but was trying to figure that out since my mom is allergic to wheat. I did see a gluten-free all purpose flour at my local walmart, FYI :).

I tried reading through all of these posts… maybe i missed it… but, is it okay to add gel coloring to this? have you ever done so? would i need more flour? I plan on making a very, very large batch and dividing it in 4 and then making 4 different colors for a tropical themed bridal shower. Thanks for the response!!

omg this is the best ever! i did this for the first time last week for my niece's birthday cupcakes with little butterfly marshmallow fondants on top, and they were a GREAT HIT.

not sure if this will help or means that i did it wrong, but when i cooked the white sauce base, i think i did it a bit longer than i was supposed to (because of the warning that most people undercook it). it was not runny at all – in fact the whole gob collected on the ladle i was stirring it with. i got so worried. i chilled it anyway and then dumped it into the whipped butter and sugar, and in TWO minutes at medium high, i got the nicest icing ever! maybe it was a fluke but the icing was light, fluffy and super yummy. because the white sauce was so thick, i couldn't sieve it. but the lumps were barely noticeable. maybe the next time i try it, i will cook it till runny, sieve it and cook a bit more?

I just made this and it is DELICIOUS! I have to say, I was very nervous, I thought for sure it would be a disaster! I was using a hand mixer, so I wasn't sure if it would work as well. My flour/milk mixture was thick, so I stirred in about 1 tsp milk before I cooled it in the fridge to thin it out a little. This worked great! I used 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/2 tsp almond extrace, and it has a wonderful flavor. Eight minutes with my hand mixer, and it was a wonderful frosting. My husband loves it! 🙂 Thanks for the great recipe!!

I'm am SO excited to have found this recipe. I have 350 cupcakes in the freezer for my daughter's wedding reception on Saturday and qualms about frosting these light delicate cupcakes with heavy, sickly-sweet frosting. I've googled light frostings before and this is the first time you came up. I am so HAPPY. Just tried with a beautiful teal color, decorator tip and voila. Perfection! Am a bit nervous about how much in advance I can make this…so I'm leaving it out overnight to see. Will let you know what happens after several days. I will definately be sharing this link with my blog readers sometime in the near future.

I made the rainbow cupcakes today as a practice set, for my daughter's birthday later this week, when I'm going to take 2 dozen to her class. They came out fine, really bright and vivid!

Then I made the frosting. I think you should put up a video of the cooking process for the milk and flour bit, because I was so unsure of whether mine was done or not… it got really thick and I could pull it with a spatula, see the bottom and then it would fill in again, so I took it off the heat. I let it cool on the counter, and when we whipped it up, it seemed to work, but… it wasn't as light or whip-creamy as I thought it was going to be (although it was very silky and smooth), and I thought it had a raw flour taste (only to me, hubby loved it), and a bit of an aftertaste… so does that mean I under-cooked it or over-cooked it?

Wow! this is LOVELY! So creamy! I added raspberry extract for my niece's birthday cake and it is delicious!!! thank you! (Also- I used bread flour and skim milk as that was what I had on hand, and it still turned out beautifully!) I can't wait to hear the reaction tomorrow!

Ok, the first batch I did was definitely undercooked, but was still usable. I was the only one who noticed the raw flour taste… the second, third, and fourth batches were much much better! You must cook it to the point where it doesn't fill in behind the spatula.

I added almond extract on the 4th batch and it was definitely my favorite. I had also chilled the milk/flour paste to a cold state on the 4th batch (rather than just to room temp), and while it was harder to get started in the mixer, it definitely came out lighter, fluffier, and had the whip-creamy taste & texture I was looking for! I will definitely make this again!!

Oh, and you can refrigerate the leftover, but if you want to use it again, you have to let it come to room temperature, and then whip it up again a bit… between the 3rd and 4th batch I did this, and it worked fine.

Oh, I forgot to say I dyed the frosting! My girl got cupcakes at school, and a chocolate cake with rainbow frosting for the family party later that evening… it dyes very nicely with about an 1/8 tsp of the gel color (red needed a little more) but it was super cute… on a 9×13 chocolate cake, I made sky blue to cover the cake, piped on white fluffy clouds, and pink lettering, and then made a rainbow by piping/spreading from the bottom up! It was awesome and she loved that, too!

I made this frosting yesterday. Tasted delicious but the consistancy was more like a cake batter than a fluffy light icing. I used an electric hand mixer with whisk attachment as my standmixer died the other week. I used room temp butter (sat out for a few hrs before I used it). Icing looked normal, no curdling/seperation etc. I whipped the daylights out of it too, hoping it would finally get fluffy! At least 12 or 13 minutes. Any suggestions on what went wrong? Appreciate any input, you can respond to dnaleis@rogers.com. Thanks!

I'm not sure what to tell you Danielle other than give it another shot sometime! I think having a stand mixer really does help, but I do know lots of people who have success with hand mixers. If it never curdled or separated then that makes me think there was a fluke from the get-go. I hope you're able to try again and that it comes out perfect, because it's amazing! Sorry I don't have a better answer for ya!

Wow, this is the absolute best frosting I have ever tasted! I didn't strain it (because the only strainer I have is a tiny play one for my daughter) and it turned out great. I didn't have enough the first time so I had to make more and it turned out fabulous as well. Thanks for the recipe!

Ok, I know this is an old post but i've been searching for a good not so sickly sweet icing. This was delish, especially with some almond extract! If you still check this, i do have a quick question. One batch makes no where near enough to generously frost 12 cupcakes, am i doing something wrong? I had to make a double batch to frost 12. I love this and would like to keep using it…just wish it made more.

On a side note, i was experimenting with this recipe and even though you said it doesn't mix well with fruit, cream cheese etc. I decided to test my luck anyway. I had made a thickened strawberry puree earlier that i had intended to use as filling. (I pureed some strawberries with sugar and cornstarch and thickened on the stove) I gently folded in 4T of it and it held up just fine and was absolutely amazing! None of it made it on the cupcakes, we ate it all! Maybe it was because i used cornstarch in the fruit mix???

I don't know what I did, but my frosting stayed exceedingly silky and goopy although a beat the daylights out of it with a stand mixer. I made sure I didn't undercook it from the beginning–it seemed a little thick right from the beginning but the more I beat it, it seemed the more goopy it got. Needless to say I am devastated. Any thoughts for my next attempt? I so much want pretty cupcakes like yours!

Okay, tried it again tonight just cause my candy-corn cupcakes looked so cute. Still no luck. My frosting remains ultra silky smooth–I can't get that whipped lovely texture for the life of me. I haven't got a clue what I'm doing wrong.

Andrea – it might be the type of butter you are using. Some people have noticed problems with non-name brand butter, others haven't. If you are using a store brand butter, I'd switch to Land-O-Lakes or Prairie Farms or whatever is not store brand for you and give that a shot. If you are using name brand butter, what kind of milk? Also, sometimes the humidity or lack of it in my house has affected my baking and cooking. Could that be happening to you? Just a few thoughts. I really hope you get it to work out, b/c it is just so awesome!

Thanks Mary & Sara–my butter wasn't store brand, but I don't know the brand well either–I just moved here and am still getting used to the local selection they have. I will try this frosting one more time with different butter and milk and if it still doesn't work then this recipe has officially conquered me.

Andrea–One other thought I had is that you may not be cooking the flour/milk mixture long enough. I've found that the frosting still turns out of the "pudding" mixture is a little overcooked, but it will be like you described (thin and silky) if you undercook it. So maybe try using brand-name butter and then cooking the milk mixture just a little longer. Good luck!!!

Hi all, I am going to try to make this frosting this weekend with pumpkin cupcakes. I'd like to add some flavoring, like cinnamon and/or powdered ginger. Does anyone know if this will cause me problems?

Just made this today and it turned out amazing! If anyone else is a little nervous to make this due to its "tempermental" reputation, give it a shot! I took the flour milk mixture too far (it was really thick) and it still turned out! I love it and will be using it again and again! Thank you OBB for making me the go-to person for all desserts at family functions, they think I am amazing and its all thanks to you! 🙂

It took two goes for this one. First time, it curdled and just wouldn't come together. I think the flour batter wasn't chilled enough. The second time, it worked like a dream. I stuck the flour mixture into the freezer to chill for 5 minutes and also made sure my mixing bowl and all equipment was cold. Piping was easy and it held its shape well, like regular buttercream although this is much softer and creamier. The taste? Divine. Not super sweet. Had a melt in your mouth texture and a lovely butter taste. I'm leaving this out over night to see how it holds up. If all is good, I'll be using this to frost over 8 dozen cupcakes this week. Thanks for this recipe.

I'm so very excited to try out a few variations of this recipe. I'm making 8 dozen cupcakes here next week and I need 5 different frostings. This will be made into 3 for sure! I do have one question regarding the brown sugar. Has anyone actually done it and had it work out well? To me brown sugar is wetter than white sugar so I didn't know if it would affect the process at all. I'm planning on putting it on pineapple cupcakes for a less messy version of the sugary gooey stuff that normally goes on upside down cake. I want to use brown sugar and maybe a dash of cinnamon. Any thoughts?

This stuff was great. I made it to top brownies. Only problem is it didn't seem to like the heat of my hand while piping, because it was pretty separated toward the bottom of the bag there. Butter was Lucerne, and flour/milk mix was perfect. It never did thicken up past the creamy stage, no matter how long or high I beat it for. Tasty, but a bit heavy on the butter I think. I might try adding a little powdered sugar or whipped cream to it. Keeper nonetheless, thanks for sharing.

Ok I have an update!! I made this frosting yesterday with the substitute of half brown sugar and the addition of a little cinnamon. I was nervous after 10 minutes of whipping that nothing was happening but after an additional 5 of so lo and behold I had frosting! It tasted incredible! It honestly had a chocolate chip cookie dough kind of flavor to me (minus the chips) and was great on my pineapple cupcakes. ALSO, I made a batch of the chocolate which turned out amazingly. I am normally not a huge fan of chocolate frosting for some reason but this is just great. I'm a little baked out right now after 5 dozen cupcakes but I can't wait to actually try the standard version of the frosting! I did have to make 2 batches of the flour/milk mixture because once it starts to thicken it goes really fast and my first one was perfect when I started to remove it from heat but then thickened up to oatmeal almost! But the second one I did was perfect. Thanks for my new go to recipe!!

Heaven! I just made my daughter's birthday cake last week and used a standard buttercream frosting. It was heavy and rich and I wanted something light and fluffy for her party with some friends.

I made this and it was PERFECT! After a mixup…

I doubled it but did not double the vanilla. I frosted all 24 cupcakes and then realized that it was VERY buttery tasting. So I scraped off the frosting and added some Lemon Extract. The butter taste was still pretty strong after 1 tsp, so I kept adding more till I got a hint of lemon tartness, followed by the buttery sweetness.

I got a bit more practice frosting (YOUR!) rainbow cupcakes and they look great!

i just wanted you to know i tried making the frosting with eggnog instead of the milk and it was AMAZING! i used salted butter and i think when i make this again i will use unsalted. this is my fav frosting recipe. thanks for sharing it with all of us!

Oh…this frosting is DELICIOUS!! I love the texture, it's super light and fluffy and surprisingly not grainy like recipes I've tried using powdered sugar. From now on this will be my "go-to" recipe for frosting.

–During the cooking of the flour and milk I did let it get too hot too quickly and it ended up super thick…I decided to try it anyhow and it still turned out AMAZING!!–I wanted to experiment with how long they last at room temperature and mines kept for 3 days with no problems, it still tasted yummy and light. (We live in Hawaii so it's always pretty warm & I didn't have any problems, I just stored it in a tupperware that seals well)–We also tried storing it in the fridge but I wouldn't recommend it, ours didn't separate but the frosting got hard, it may have softened if I let them "thaw" but I prefer to just leave them at room temp.

Thank you all so much, this blog is just too dangerous for me! Everything looks so yummy!!

Hi Sara or Kate, I made this frosting regularly, but sometimes have issues that I have not been able to figure out.

I've had success with adding syrupy flavorings (e.g. caramel, fruit syrups or melted & cooled jam, etc). When using this sort of flavoring, I make a white sauce with less milk; then I stir in the syrup – this way the total liquid is about the same and the thickness of the sauce is also similar to normal.

My problem is: occassionally, the frosting looks kind of un-emulsified, and some of the liquid kind of oozes (for example, if the frosting is colored, there'll be colored liquid in the un-emulsified air-holes.

This also sometimes occurs in my meringue buttercreams – the liquid actually accumulates at the bottom of the mixing bowl.

I'm not sure if it should be corrected by adding MORE butter, or adding more liquid/white sauce (i.e. increasing or reducing the fat content)

Have you had any such experiences?

Thanks for maintaining such an imformative site and for replying to all your readers – we really appreciate it!

Hi Sara or Kate, I made this frosting regularly, but sometimes have issues that I have not been able to figure out.

I've had success with adding syrupy flavorings (e.g. caramel, fruit syrups or melted & cooled jam, etc). When using this sort of flavoring, I make a white sauce with less milk; then I stir in the syrup – this way the total liquid is about the same and the thickness of the sauce is also similar to normal.

My problem is: occassionally, the frosting looks kind of un-emulsified, and some of the liquid kind of oozes (for example, if the frosting is colored, there'll be colored liquid in the un-emulsified air-holes.

This also sometimes occurs in my meringue buttercreams – the liquid actually accumulates at the bottom of the mixing bowl.

I'm not sure if it should be corrected by adding MORE butter, or adding more liquid/white sauce (i.e. increasing or reducing the fat content)

Have you had any such experiences?

Thanks for maintaining such an imformative site and for replying to all your readers – we really appreciate it!

moni- I know what you're talking about. If you're having that problem when adding flavorings then it's just the issue of an added element that's causing it to change. If it's just with the normal frosting, then I honestly don't know how to fix it. I wish I had a better answer, but I don't know- sorry!

Lotte–I was trying to get here before Sara, haha! 🙂 I've tried it under fondant a few times and I think it's too soft; the fondant tends to slide off. I've heard that some people have replaced with butter with shortening JUST for using under the fondant (not for actually frosting cupcakes) and that it works better because shortening has a higher melting point than butter.

I realize after reading some comments that I *forgot* to add the lemon flavor I was going to add (and didn't use vanilla or almond extract), so that would have helped somewhat. But my main concern is this: I can taste the flour. I don't like my frosting to taste like flour!

I used medium heat and whisked constantly while it was cooking. It seemed that the window of time when it the pan bottom showed was very small, and then it started to thicken a lot more, so I whipped it off the stove. The comment about it looking like wallpaper paste was right on. It got gummy as it cooled. Could it have not been cooked enough? I assumed it would end up brick-like if I cooked it any more. LOL

I went ahead and used the frosting, because I didn't want to make a new batch (x3)…but now I'm wishing I hadn't used it. It just doesn't taste right. 🙁

Zannister-I can see how it would be difficult to read through all the comments on this recipe, but I know a lot of people have had problems using an off-brand of butter. I have had mine be pretty thick upon cooling but have just whipped the shinola out of it with my stand mixer until it produces what I want. How long did you beat i?

The texture of the finished product was fine. I don't have any complaints there. As others with thicker flour/milk have mentioned, it didn't seem like it took the full beating time to get to a creamy consistency (but I continued the full time anyway). My problem was just with the flavor. I used Trader Joe's brand butter – don't know if that matters when it comes to tasting the flour.

I had some frosting left, so I added lemon oil and a bit of vanilla. Definitely an improvement. I'm not sure I'm sold over a more traditional buttercream frosting, but at least it doesn't taste like flour now. 😉 Overall, it was a fun learning experience, since I'd never filled cupcakes or used a piping bag. Thanks for the posts!

I just stumbled upon your frosting recipe and I'm going to give it a try this weekend on my daughters bday cake! I have one question….{and this may sound totally dumb, but I'd rather ask than mess up this recipe!}….

3 T Flour1 t vanilla extract….

Does the capital T mean Tablespoon, and the lowercase t mean teaspoon??

Also…I noticed this is a "cupcake frosting" recipe…can I use it to frost an entire cake? Or would you recommend a different recipe? Thank you! I am so new at making cakes from scratch! This is my first one….eek! : / Say a prayer for me!!

Jessica–It would be awesome on a sheet cake or on the top layer of a layer cake, but it's too soft and fluffy to stick two cakes together (like for a round layer cake) and the layers might slide off each other. So as long as it's on top, you'll be fine. 🙂

Thanks Kate for your quick responses!! You are awesome! I am doing a layered cake but the fillings will be strawberry mousse and chocolate ganache, so this sounds great for the outside frosting. Thanks again!

I am so excited that I found this recipe! I'm making 200 wedding cupcakes for a friends wedding and just made a typical buttercream frosting. Then I found this recipe and tried it out. The difference is amazing! Hands down the best "buttercream" frosting!

I actually mixed the flour and milk before placing it over the heat to take out any lumps and then ended up cooking it until it was almost paste like (accidentally left it in the pan for too long), but decided to use it anyway. Cooled it in the freezer for a couple minutes and then dumped it in with the rest of the ingredients. Only took about 3-4 minutes of beating to come out nice, light and fluffy, yet perfect for piping on cupcakes. 😀 THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting this!!!

it definitely looked perfect… but thn i found tht salted butter messed up the taste.. it was tasting weird.. didnt taste like normal icing cream.. i wish if i cd minus tht salted taste from thid recipe.. may be thts y it must taste.. but this was just my choice.. let me know if i can minus tht.. but otherwise texture, color, consistency n everything was just perfecto..

I am wondering if self rising flour can be used? It is the only thing I have on hand. I do not have time for a "trial run" as the birthday is tomorrow. I was hoping to use the topping for the cupcakes that will go to school tomorrow. aesheley@hotmail.com

Well, I decided to make the chocolate version of this recipe for my son's cake at home (I'll have time to run to the store prior to making). I went ahead and made a cream cheese frosting for the cupcakes for school. Go figure, I have cream cheese on hand, but not all purpose flour. Thank you for your input. I'll let ya know how the chocolate ones turn out!

The first time I attempted this, heating the flour and milk mixture kinda went "boom". Not literally, but I think I cooked it *too* long and ended up with an insanely thick ball of…whatever. Not good. So, I turned down the heat just a tad and was able to get the consistency "you" were asking for. I also want to note that this CAN be done with a hand mixer, but dang, it's an arm ache! Someone needs to poke my husband and tell him I need a standing mixer. Seriously. All that to say this – THIS FROSTING IS DIVINE. The best I've ever had, bar none. It's well worth the work. I just wish I would have had the brain cells to realize I needed to double the batch in order to cover my cake. *sigh* Thanks gals!

Oh Wow! What an Amazing Frosting!! And I am Shocked it came out ok. I was so distracted by my kids & husband that I Accidentally put the sugar in the Flour & Milk Mixture. Ugh…Well, I kept on going anyway. I put it in the freezer for about 10-15 mins. & mixed the butter. I added the chilled mixture in two parts – whipped it on high with my hand mixer for about 12 mins. (just in case). My husband split up the frosting in three bowls & we added food coloring & Vanilla, Orange & Lemon flavoring. OH MY GOSH!!! We are in Love!!! Thank you So Very Much for an Incredible Treat!Cheers!-janette

I made this and it was awesome. I forgot not to store it in the fridge though so I was freaking out the next day trying to figure out how to get it soft enough to ice with! Then I realized I could just rebeat it in the mixer and it worked! Then I loaded it into the Pampered Chef gun thingy and it worked great (other than being an icing HOG!). Do you have a recipe for chocolate icing?? 🙂

The frosting tastes really, REALLY delicious. Not too sweet, nice and creamy. Next time I need to triple the recipe, because I like my frosting T H I C K. I think others have mentioned that it needs a little more flour than the original recipe. Next time I'll try 4 tablespoons instead of 3, but with the same amount of milk. For those who think there is a funky flour taste, you may not have cooked the flour long enough. Uncooked flour tastes "flourey". I beat the milk and flour mixture with my immersion blender first and then poured it into the pan to help eliminate potential lumps. Then cooked it on low, whisking constantly. I let it get to the consistancy of "set" pudding. Next time I may cook even a little longer to insure the base is firm enough to hold up to all that butter. I'm looking forward to using a very firm version of the frosting as a filling for cupcakes. DELISH!!!

I know that this is a very late post, but I just discovered this blog about a month ago. I have a quick question and hope that someone can answer it. I was wondering if using Splenda instead of sugar would change things? My husband is trying to stay away from sugar and so I am trying to support him by cutting down on my sugar as well. Any idea if it would still work?

I considered myself pretty talented in the kitchen especially at all things baking. Maybe that is where I went wrong 😉 . This recipe totally failed me (i mean i totally failed the recipe). I even read through all the comments before I embarked. All I got was a silky more glaze like frosting. It never thickened or fluffed up. I cannot imagine what I did wrong.I even beat it for 20 minutes and finally shut my mixer down for fear of the motor overheating. Help !!!!

Laura, I’ve used it on cakes before. It pipes really well and holds up fine. The only thing I would worry about was if you were to be serving it somewhere really warm- but in normal conditions it works great!

Would love to make this frosting for my daughers first communion cupcakes im from Northern Ireland would you have the recipe in grammes i dont understand your recipe and what does T flour mean. Thanks Tina

I came across this post a little late in the game, but I am wondering if the all-purpose flour can be substituted with something gluten-free, like a rice flour. I am hoping to make my Grandma a gluten-free cake/frosting but I still want it to taste great!

I tried this recipe yesterday. I used the best brand of butter I could find. I doubled the recipe but was still very careful about the measurements. I’m not sure what went wrong but it was runny and looked like it separated. It had the taste I was looking for but definitely not the consistency. I don’t know what else I could try to make it work. I was really bummed because the taste was so yummy!

This is my first visit to your blog – you’re great! I’ve had this recipe for years – from my grandma. This is actually the original-so I’m told, recipe for Red Velvet Cake frosting! (You can find the argument on various blogs between what the original frosting was and the cream cheese frosting everyone has come to expect!) This was always my favorite frosting, though I’d only had it on Red Velvet cake. My grandma did use margarine (though it could have been a little different back then) and it worked I refuse to use margarine, so I also use butter. My recipe only differs in the amount of flour – mine is doubled from yours, so 1 cup milk to 5 Tbsp flour. I also cook the flour and milk over low, to make a thick paste, it’s never been lumpy – no need to strain. I’ve never beat mine that long, so mine has turned out a little more dense, I’ve tried it on other cakes and it has been great to me, but I’ve noticed others leaving some of their frosting behind…. I’m going to try beating it longer next time 😉

ok, I’ve been making this for the last year or so with no problems and today for some reason I got soup. curdled soup. that is after 20 minutes of whipping… i make wedding cakes for Pete’s sake, I know what I’m doing. I have no idea what went wrong this time. HOWEVER I managed to save it…. I doubled had the recipe, so when I was left with soup here’s what I did- added about a 1/2 cup of powdered sugar & a full freaking stick of butter. This was all done in small increments, but that’s what it ended up being. It’s fine now. So don’t give up. and yes, it still tastes pretty damn good.

I am new at making and decorating cakes. I love it so far. I made a cake for a teenager at church, only to find out that her family doesn’t like the thick sweet Icing. I searched every where for a whipped icing (like the ones in the store) but couldn’t find one easy enough to make. I was very skeptical when I saw this recipe. However, the icing turned out Great and the cupcakes are beautiful. Thank you so much!

I thought (before you switched to the new blog format) that there were some comments on how this would work as a frosting for cake and as a crumb layer but I’m not seeing those comments here… So, does anyone know if it will work for the top/sides of a big birthday cake?

I made this recipe tonight! Delicious! Definitely a hit. I just ate 3, then of course had to cut one in half and take a photo. So i had to eat that one too! I made the rainbow cupcakes, with funfetti, because it was the only white cake mix I had, and I used orange cream yogurt! Turned out great. Then as I was making my frosting I realized I had used the rest of the vanilla last time i made something!!! I happen to have almond instead! My mom and I loved it! (almond is her favorite flavoring!) I have already recommended this to a friend (who loved the fact that you put ww points on the recipe!)

My neighbor saved the day and this was yummy. So, my neighbor and I have been cooing over your site for a while now and we both really enjoy it. I was having a get together at my house and was running out of time QUICKLY!! I called my amazing neighbor and begged her to bail me out and frost my cupcakes. She came over and got my sad, un-iced cupcakes and saved the day when she topped them with this. Luckly, she let me lick the spoon becuase out of the three desserts I served, these were gone before I got to have one. The guests thought they were fabulous!

Also, I have wanted to make this frosting for a long time, but don’t have a stand mixer. In one of the comments, you said a regular hand mixer should work. I think I’m going to attempt it. Should I use the regular beaters? Or the little whisk attachment?

Add zest at the very end- but just fyi the oils in the zest sometimes make the butter separate. It tastes amaaaazing but sometimes looks funny. Use the whisk attachment on your mixer, and with the other flavors, it doesn’t really matter . I usually still add a little vanilla, but not quite as much and then add the other flavors. It’s just a personal preference.

Made this frosting and the chocolate version yesterday…. OH my! I was SHOCKED(that doesn’t even really describe it) by how yummy this frosting was/is! I mean when I was stirring the milk and flour I felt a little nauseated… but it was “life changing”! THANKS!

Thank you for this! It was awesome! I think I cooked my flour/milk a little too long (it goes from liquid to thick really quickly) but it didn’t cause any problems. I used room temp butter that I had left sitting on the counter overnight. It came together in about 6 minutes on speed 8, but I let it beat a bit longer just in case! It was awesome. No grainy taste from the sugar at all, nice and thick, easy to spread. Sweet, but not too sweet, which I don’t care for. I spread it on my cupcakes pretty thinly because I was making the chicky cupcakes with coconut on top (and I don’t think my son’s class needs more frosting than they are already getting by having cupcakes at school), and it was perfectly the right amount for 24 cupcakes in a single batch. I can’t wait to try it in some whoopie pies next week. I think it will just what I have been looking for! (I’m on batch five trying to find the perfect filling.)

FINALLY my prayers have been answered. I’ve been searching for something like this for what seems like years (reality….. 8 months) I’m not a fan of store bought baked goods/frostings and I’m not a fan of overly sweet confectionary sugar based frostings. I had my doubts about flower but you have converted me for good. I made both the chocolate and white frostings for church this weekend and they were both equally silky and tasty. Thanks for your awesome blog! Your newest fan!

I made this for the first time today, doubled the recipe, and thought that I had messed it up by overcooking my flour and milk (it was thick and pasty!). I persevered and mixed it all up in my bosch and within a few minutes, MAGIC! My frosting hating toddler has eaten three cupcakes already and I can’t wait to take some over to the neighbors. Thanks!

I’m sorry if this comment was already made, but I found the frosting was perfection after about 3 hours after I made it. I had a taste test with family between this recipe and another and everyone loved the flavor and fluffiness of this recipe, but the only drawback was the grittiness of the granulated sugar. About another hour we came back for more and the sugar had dissolved into the frosting and was completely smooth!

Just thought you’d like to know: I made this frosting for a wedding reception the night before and inadvertently put them back into the freezer. They came out fine. The trick I think is not to melt the butter. Just let it get soft on the counter before you make it. It took less than a minute to mix and it was ready to go. It didn’t need 7 or 8 min. Also after pushing the flour and milk through a sieve I thought there has got to ba a better way. So I made it the way I make gravy. Mix the flour and milk smoothly befor you cook it and if it is smoothe before you cook it, you won’t have to push it though a sieve.

Thank you thank you thank you best ever frosting i dont like buttercream so had been looking for a recipe and stumble on this by accident and im so glad i did i added lemon extract to the recipe delish double or triple the recipe though cos all the family will want a taste 🙂

If anyone is having problems with this and is using anything other than whole milk, try it with whole milk or half-n-half! I used half-n-half today and it was awesome! A little extra lumpy but worth the time to push it through the wire mesh!! I think it may even be thick enough to pipe! Woo hoo!!

helloooooo, Did Dorothy ever get back to you about making it ahead of time? I am wondering because I actually would like to make this red and I need to make it a couple days ahead because it darkens as time goes on, as you know:/ Advice???

I made this and initially liked it when I was licking the bowl, but for some reason, when I had it several hours later on the actual cake, I did not like it. I could still taste the flour, so I don’t know if maybe I didn’t cook the flour & milk quite enough? or if I just didn’t whip it up enough? Anyone else have the same issue?

I tried this recipe for the first time today! Wow, I have made a lot of frosting, but nothing like this. Mine worked great. I’m trying to freeze some and put some in the frig, just to see what happens. Freezing is ok, not as light and airy as fresh, but buttery. The frosting in the frig is ok also. I think fresh is the best, if you have the time.

ok i just found out. not a good idea. don’t answer. lol but i think coconut milk will do well for a rich coconut flavor. the sauce will be thicker too which is always a good thing for this recipe right? let us know how it turns out olivia! i’d love coconut frosting on white or devil’s food cake.

No Kat, you’re probably not doing anything wrong. It’s just a matter of how quickly your flour mixture cooks and sometimes it just gets too thick. But that being said, you’re not really “draining” it- you’re really pushing a thick mixture through a sieve, does that make sense? If you just poured it in there, it’s wouldn’t strain through on its own, so that might help.

I just made this and modified it a bit. I wanted to share, because it might help. Actually, I messed up. ; ) But, it turned out to be helpful. When I was making the flour/milk mixture, I turned around to do something for my hubby and totally overcooked it. It looked like biscuit dough (it was so thick). To fix it, I added a tiny splash more milk and beat it to make it smooth. I don’t have a strainer, so I skipped that part. I finished up the rest as normal. After beating it for very little (using a hand mixer as I don’t own a stand mixer) it looked great! I continued for the full 8-9 minutes to be sure, but it was pretty silky right at first. I think that beating the flour/milk mixture before adding it helped. I think it might only save you 3-4 minutes in the long run, though.

Anyway, it was super easy (though it sounded intimidating) and the result is a fabulously light/silky frosting with a wonderful vanilla flavor. Thanks for the recipe (once again).

I recently tried a sugar free version of this frosting for my Mom who is a diabetic and she LOVED it! I simply substituted the sugar out for splenda and whipped it at the highest speed for about 10 minutes and it actually turned out great! I added mint extract and green food coloring to top sugar free chocolate cupcakes, they were pretty good for no sugar!

Hi, I am making 100 cupcakes for a sweet 16 party. How far in advance can I make the frosting? They wanted a light and fluffy whipped frosting. I have always used buttercream. I am not sure how this will work with the delivery and set up if it is a warm day? Any suggestion?

This one doesn’t work really well when made ahead of time. I would try our Swiss Meringue Buttercream, which might work better. It has a high butter content, so it will definitely melt away if it gets really warm (like I’m talking outside in the heat of summer) so keep that in mind.

I made this for Christmas when I tried the peppermint brownies in a jar and it was soooo good! I added half peppermint extract and half vanilla and it was like heaven. Seriously melt in your mouth good!

I use this recipe for cupcakes and for icing on cinnamon rolls. I also make the frosting a day in advance sometimes. Actually I’ve made it two days in advance and as long as I leave it sealed up on the counter it’s perfection even after two days!!

OK, I made this frosting last night and it turned out AWESOME!! Thank you so much for this easy but yummy recipe…. One question though. It says to store overnight in airtight container but not in the fridge, how long is the frosting good for then? I have a lot of extra and I’m not sure I’ll be able to use it right away so I was hoping to be able to make something else later using it but don’t want to serve spoiled frosting 🙂

Hi, I’m planning on making this frosting for my nieces christening this Sunday. Can you clarify how much a cup actually is? I’m from the UK and have never measured/weighed using cups before? Many thanks.

Hi I have used this recipe this weekend as a topping for Blackforest gateaux muffins for gifts for Fathers Day (in the UK) and I am pleased to report that it worked a treat and wowed both my Dad and my boyfriends. When I told my mum how you make the frosting with white sauce she was amazed. It worked fantastically as it looked just like whipped cream and tasted like chantilly cream, just perfect sprinked with very good quality Swiss dark chocolate shavings and topped with a pitted black cherry…I am going to experiment with goats milk, goats butter and rice flour for an allergy friendly version so that I can try one. I promise I will share my results with you all. All my Best Charlotte Guernsey, Channel Islands

Do you think I can use Bailey’s Irish Cream as flavoring? Thinking about making a mocha cupcake with Baileys frosting. I know a coffee flavored frosting would work (using your chocolate frosting recipe), but I’ve been in a booze-infused-desserts craze lately lol.

I can’t wait to make this frosting/filling!!! I also want to know if this frosting will be okay to use between 2-layer cake. Will it hold the cake layers or will the cake layers slide around when I try to cut it to serve. Please let me know asap, thanks.

I made frosting for the first time today for my daughter’s 4th birthday and was looking for something light and not too sweet and followed the recipe to the tee. It worked perfectly! It was simply amazingly fluffy and downright delish. I made the first milk/flour part yesterday as I knew I would be pressed for time this morning and left it in the fridge overnight. It worked fine. One quick note about that 1st part: don’t leave it on the fire for too long. Once it thickens and you see the bottom of the pan, turn the stove off immediately! If you leave it on for too long and it gets too thick, there is no coming back! (I had to redo my first batch). Other than this, it went beautifully this morning (with a hand mixer and the whisk attachment) and the guest of honor did as she usually does: she ate the frosting and left the cupcake! (always a good sign!) Thank you Sara!

OMG! This is hands downn the best icing I have ever made! Thank you so much for posting. Everyone agrees that is it so good because it is rich as well as sweet, not just overly sweet like others. Made it exactly as the recipe stated and it was perfect! Love it!

Oh my goodness, this is the best icing in the whole world. I, too, do not like icing that is overly heavy and sweet. This icing has the perfect amount of sweetness and the perfect consistency. It’s just beautiful! I made it to frost cupcakes for a baby shower. At first I thought I was going to have to buy storebought icing due to lack of time, but in the end I squeezed in the time to make this icing, risking being late for the shower. It was SO worth it! I cannot sing the praises of this icing enough – both the vanilla and the chocolate version. Absolutely delicious! I’m never searching for frosting recipes again.

Thanks much for this Sara. This is the perfect icing I have been looking for, not the overly-sweet buttercream but holds it place perfectly on the cookies and cream cupcakes as cookies and cream-flavored icing:) And I am amazed that my nephew ate 5 cupcakes in just within 2 hours along with his lunch:) And that’s five times his usual food intake within the same period:)

It definitely tasted good, not buttery in tasteand it is really fluffy. Thanks for stressing the importance of patience in beating until sugar is dissolved. I did not have a grainy icing because I waited until the 8th minute, it’s worth all the wait and the perseverance especially since I am using a hand mixer:) The mixer I have is not at all that good as I felt iron-like heat at its machine-base from the 5th until the 8th minutes of beating this icing. But I will definitely do the same thing just to have this icing the next time I bake:)

And another very good thing about this is that I can put the frosted cakes in the fridge so that I may avoid having runny icing when I transport my cakes. Here in the Philippines, weather can be like summer even at rainy season:) And it has usually been my problem. Mine did not separate when I stored themin the fridge last night. In fact, it’s like a hardened butter and I am checking if it will return to the fluffy condition after hours of leaving it at room temp. I just can’t wait to tell you my good news, I did it:) And I am enthusiastically thankful to Sara and fellow fans who inquired further details of the icing:)

I didn’t read all the comments for this post so this may be redundant but I’m going to tell you anyway. . . I make this as a chocolate frosting also by adding about 3 T. cocoa powder to the sugar/butter mixture. Yummy!!!!

OK – this sounds amazing, so I’ll need to try it. One question – my apologies if it’s already asked and answered. I get the “real” and name brand butter thing, but you don’t mention salted vs unsalted. I only ever cook w/unsalted (per my chef cousin) but not sure about how that applies to baking.

THANK YOU. I usually never like frosting, but this frosting is incredible. it’s like whipped cream and was so easy to make, although I did have to throw out the first batch. Yes, you can overcook it, trust me. To me it cooked very fast, and went from sooooupy to that next stage where you can see the bottom of the pan REAL fast. The end result still has people talking about it at work. I did use red food coloring to make a pink frosting which I put on strawberry cupcakes and everyone seemed to assume that it was strawberry flavored since it was pink. Funny! Thanks again, so much. This is a keeper!!!

i love this site but this recipe had me in tears. i did everything right. all the right ingredients, the right temperatures… i didn’t make it in advance and i DID use real butter. i must have beat the mixture for 30 minutes and it was just barely working. it never became light and airy. the flavor wasn’t impressive and it completely ruined my day. to be fair i attempted it twice and nothing changed. 🙁

I’ve used this for years in a recipe for ‘chocolate Gobs’. Sometimes it works like a dream and other times it’s horrible. If you’re not careful, the frosting will separate and never fully come together no matter how long you whip it! However, when it works properly it is my FAVORITE frosting!!

I’ve tried this frosting today! It tastes wonderful however, it melts(?) really fast. I’ve left it at room temperature and it started to melt after 5 minutes. Could this be because of the weather? I live in HOT and (note) HUMID Singapore (basically, you can expect sweat even by walking leisurely after 5 minutes). Is there anything I can do about it?

This frosting is amazing!!!! Instead of vanilla I made a really strong coffee flavor with a teaspoon of instant coffee and a teaspoon of water. I also made a batch with Baileys Irish cream. It’s Sooo light and really compliments my special dark chocolate cupcakes!!!! Love love love!!! I’m never going back to boxed stuff!!

I’ve made this ahead many times. You can refrigerate or freeze it then just let it come to room temperature and beat for a few minutes to restore the texture. If you frost the cupcakes or cake the night before, just cover loosely with plastic wrap and it won’t develop that hard crust. I’ve also frozen cupcakes after they were frosted and they were just fine when we thawed them later. You can add cooled, melted chocolate for a chocolate version and substitute brown sugar for part of the white for a caramel version. I’ve even beaten in strawberry puree for the most decadent, yummiest frosting ever. That one takes a bit of powdered sugar at the end though to thicken it up. It’s really a GREAT recipe!

I made this the other night and use margarine and it worked fine. It was very yummy but it was only because I didn’t have butter. Making it again today with real butter and I can’t wait. My kids wanted Twinkies and so this will be the cream and my husband wants the Devils Food kind so I’ll be making those today.

Truly the best frosting I’ve ever tasted. I make this all time for functions, get-togethers, gifts, or just when I want something with frosting on it.

For the people who can’t get it to set up into frosting consistency, you might be having the same problem I was having. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a high elevation cooker or what, but following the recipe exactly was not yielding me good results. I ended up having to cook the milk/flour mixture until it was very thick, almost too thick to push through the strainer. Even then, it’s a room-temp, lumpy cream cheese consistency. However, this yields good results for me and the frosting comes out perfect.

Thank you for sharing such a delicious recipe. I would like to add a suggestion for the white-sauce. Because I have heavy bottom pans, as soon as the sauce starts to thicken, I remove my sauce-pan from the heat while still whisking, then transferring it to a metal bowl so the it will stop cooking. I also have found that the metal bowl helps the sauce cool down quicker in the frig.

nice recipe oldie but gooood ,this is a old bakers trick and used in most commercial settings and i think its the filling in some big brand doughnuts also. Ive made it before in 30lb mixes at the deli bakery i used to work a few years back but ive never made it at home till tonight after eating a cupcake that tasted like lard and sugar….yaaaak! So i googled to see if there was a smaller recipe i could adapt and found this one . I used flora buttery (A uk half butter half other spread) and caster sugar so the granuals disolve better and quicker and all made by hand without straining either and ended up with a fluffy bowl of creme frosting (thats what we called it in bakery) ive put it in the fridge over night to see what happens because i need a lot soon for a event im managing and it needs to be made in advance and stored safely seeing as theres milk in the mix.

This is the most fab frosting I have ever made. I took this frosting (on cupcakes) to a BBQ…it was the talk of the party. Thanks for making me look like Betty Crocker! I also plugged this site on my blog. YUMMY!!!!

I just tried this and it is the best not too sweet or buttery. Its my daughter’s birthday and she had fun decorating and I am sure she will have fun sharing them out. I want to try it with chocolate. Thanks for posting.

I don’t know what to say but,,THIS IS THE MOST WONDERFUL FROSTING/FILLING IN THE UNIVERSE!

I’ve looked under every rock looking for a frosting/filling recipe like this.. The frosting known as Buttercream or Bettercream is good,,which is used to frost cakes,but it falls under a whip cream type frosting.. This one falls under an icing..it’s delightful..

I had no trouble adding food coloring and I think you could play with the amount of sugar…The whipping breaks down the sugar so it doesn’t taste like sand/grit,, I was able to make this beautiful frosting with a hand mixer…

In closing,,if your first batch fails,,try again and again,,it’s worth it…

I made this frosting today to frost on top of a very rich and chocolatey devils food cupcakes. The frosting was so easy and so delicious. Its texture and taste is very similar to a Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I’m definitely going to make this frosting instead of the SMB, since no raw eggs are needed. I cooked the flour and milk over med-low heat, constantly whisking, until just thicken (gravy consistency) then continued to whisk off the heat.

I’m wondering how many batches of this to make if I’m making 4 dozen cupcakes with the swirl frosting technique that you used and also a “rose” technique? Would it be ok to make the first part of the frosting (flour/milk mixture) the night before and then beat it the next morning? Also, I don’t have a stand mixer just a regular mixer, will any attachment create the same results? Sorry to be asking so many questions!

My brother asked for a lemon frosting and I was out of powdered sugar, so a butter cream was out. However I had a jar of lemon curd and remembered this wonderful frosting so at the end, I beat in about half a cup of my fav lemon curd and it was perfect! So maybe if the fruit was already in sauce form it wouldn’t mess with the consistency? anyway, thanks for this super awesome frosting, Sara!

I think this recipe was a good start for what I was looking for! I thought it was too sweet when I was done with the recipe as written, so I made another batch of the flour thickened milk and stirred it in. Also, some melted unsweetened chocolate, since I am filling a 4-layer cake and wanted to be sure it was thick and sturdy enough to not ooze out, and I was sort of wanting it chocolate anyway.

Next time I think I will just cut the sugar in half.

Oh, btw, I don’t have an electric mixer, and made this with a whisk and a rubber scraper/spatula. I had no trouble getting the right consistency. I just beat the butter til it was totally smooth, beat in the sugar til it was totally smooth, then beat in the white sauce.

I’m trying to make a hairy monster cake and I came across your recipe … It sounds to me that this recipe is for eating-at-home (not sharing) kind of stuff so I will definitely try it for us at home, I’m just nervous about transporting it and the cake sitting out at the park. Could you please guide me to a good tasting frosting, stiff enough to make hairy creatures, that would taste good like this one? … I might be asking too much sorry! But I’m tired of looking! HELP!

This is definitely a “sharing” kind of recipe! Unless it’s going to be very warm outside, it will be just fine. And if it’s going to be really warm out, then there’s really no good frosting for sitting out!

My Mom”s good friend has made this for years and always gets rave reviews. When she doubles it she uses one “stick of crisco” in place of 1 stick of butter – it keeps the frosting very white and doesn’t change the flavor much at all. I have done it when I NEEDED white 🙂

Im excited to try this because this is just what i’ve been looking for, a frosting that is all nice, light and fluffy unlike the kind in the cake isle. Is there any “rookie” mistakes that I should look out for? And do you have a favorite cupcake recipe? Like one out of the box or even from scratch? I make them all the time and I really want to perfect them! Thanks!!

Hi, Drew! There are looooooooots of tips because we’ve done a lot of troubleshooting over the years! If you have time, I recommend reading through the comments because there’s a lot of discussion about fails and successes. In a nutshell, though, we recommend:

-Use a name-brand butter, or, at the very least, not using Walmart or Sam’s Club butter.

-It is better to slightly overcook the flour mixture than to undercook it.

Can I quadruple this recipe? Will there be any changes I need to make or will it still turn out the same consistency? The last time I made it I absolutely LOVED it, but I didn’t have enough to frost all of my cupcakes. 🙁

Hi, Sara for the icing can I use just regular milk or (whipping cream, half and half or evaporated milk) if I dont have the milk suggested in recipe. Also is it ok to leave the iced cupcakes in the fridge overnight.

You can use any regular milk, from non-fat to whole. I’ve never tried cream or evaporated so I’m not sure how that would work. You can leave in the fridge and rewhip the next day, but I think it’s definitely better fresh.

I think that sounds like an abomination. Haha! No, really I’ve never added shortening to this so I’m not sure how it would affect it, but in terms of general frosting making, I’m a firm believer that taste-wise, butter is always better!

I’ve made this frosting several times and have had hit or miss results. Recently I tried to make it and it was very separated looking, and would not set up. I’m so glad I came back and read the comments. I definitely think it is my walmart brand butter that’s giving me trouble. I just asked my husband to pick up some real butter on his way home!

I had to try this recipe because it was so weird looking! lol. It was really good! I put it on an 8″ strawberry cake and wished I had about a cup more frosting at least. This is such a light frosting it needs to be loaded on. Anyhow, I thought it was quite tasty. I felt like it was a little grainy at times from the granulated sugar. I’m not sure if there is a way to prevent that or is it possible to sub powdered sugar? I’m still happy though. I personally love the richness of buttercream frosting, but this will have it’s time and place for sure! Thanks for sharing!

I’ve made this multiple times (vanilla and chocolate), always successful and a big hit! But I had to tell you…today I made egg nog cupcakes (Thanksgiving has passed in Canada so I am onto holiday baking!). I gave this a shot using egg nog instead of milk, and oh. my. goodness. Amazing. I didn’t have to whip it as long, and it actually seemed to hold together a bit more than the regular.

so, i’ll add my name to the list of people who can’t quite get this right. i actually tried it twice (because i didn’t make enough the first time… oops)… and both times, it didn’t turn out as “fluffy” as it looks in your photo– but here’s the catch… although in my opinion, i did the SAME EXACT THING in both attempts, they didn’t even turn out the same as EACH OTHER.

even stranger: they both tasted amazing, and were thus “successful”– they didn’t separate, or anything like that… but they never quite fluffed up. even though i beat them each for at least 8 minutes and then FOREVER after that as well.

is there such a thing as beating it TOO MUCH? like– after that 8 minutes, should we be peeking over the edge of the bowl to make sure it’s not going too far?

Cook the flour mixture longer until you are scraping off of the sides of the pot–beat constantly. You want the flour mixture to look like a paste and not a glue. I’ve been using this recipe for years–add some crisco shotening (about 1 tblsp) once you’ve combined the butter and cooled flour mixture–it will fluff right up. it doesn’t affect the taste at all. Good Luck!

I use this recipe for my Gobs. It’s been in our family for years. I cook my flour/milk mixture longer and beat constantly to avoid lumps. I cook it until it is more of a paste and not a glue like pictured–but whatever works for you 🙂 The trick to avoid separation is once you’ve combined the cooled flour mixture to the butter mixture is to add about 1 tblsp of crisco shortening, either butter flavor or regular. This fluffs this icicng right up! I am anxious to try the strawberry cupcakes!

Hi I just tried a homemade cupcake recipe and frosting and was dissapointed in the taste. I didnt like either one. So I am thinking about trying your frosting but do you have a good cupcake recipe? And how do i get the frosting to look like that on the cupcakes? do I have to use a certain tip number?

Hi there!! This frosting sounds amazing! My question is, do you think I could use this on a large cake as the filling between the cake and the fondant/rolled icing? I am making my nephews 1st birthday cake and doing cupcakes as well and don’t really want to make 3 different types of icing 🙂 Thanks in advance for your help!!!

I think the butter i used wasn’t “real” butter because when i tried making this frosting today it came out with little grease bubbles and little clumps of butter that weren’t there before. I used fresh and easy brand butter since that was all i had ): any REAL butter recommendations?

Sara….looking foward to trying this recipe…my question….is the frosting pretty sturdy?? you said it can be kept at room temp…so i can frost the cupcakes and the cupcakes can sit out correct?? thanks so much! 🙂

I just made this frosting and quite honestly, I was glad that you wrote how it should look like a gloppy mess because mine sure did until all of a sudden, was amazing! I made a single batch and you are right on with this as well. I should have doubled it! It is simply amazing and not sugary, sweet. I’ll NEVER buy frosting again! Thank you, Ladies for all you do!

Well be careful everyone if you put coloring on it. I did and it ruined everything I checked the bottle and realize that it contained citric acid 🙁 will have to try again though cause so many comments says it’s wonderful

Thanks so much have just made this for the first time and worked out perfectly exactly as you promised. I grew up in New Zealand and after I made the frosting realised had made this years ago and in NZ it was called Mock Cream, so great thanks so much. And way less sweet than the traditional butter creams and not graining. This is my fav icing and will be stickint to this one. 🙂

Hi i just tried this today with my 3 year old sister and mom and I just want to say that the frosting tastes absolutely fantabulous!!! 🙂 although we didn’t get the same ‘frosting look’ as yours (ours is a little more buttery soft and whatever– not as fluffy as we would like) because we don’t have an electric beater and had to do it by hand (which is tiring) but even so, IT STILL TASTES GREAT!! On the first try too! I just wished we used your cupcake recipe as well; will try next time!

This is hands down the best frosting I have ever had. I’ve been searching for a light, non-sickening sweet frosting for years. I was a little skeptical about the flour but man did it make the difference! I will never use another recipe. This is it! It’s almost like whipped cream frosting with zero milk. It’s perfect, love it!

Also, if anyone wants to use this as filing for a fondant cake, it’s perfect. I did a dry run for my daughters birthday cake. It paired well with the red velvet cake I made covered in marshmallow fondant. I’m going to use it for a red velvet trifle too!

Also, if anyone wants to use this as filing for a fondant cake, it’s perfect. I did a dry run for my daughters birthday cake. It paired well with the red velvet cake I made covered in marshmallow fondant. I’m going to use it for a red velvet trifle too!!!

A variation of this recipe has been in my family forever, with just a few differences. We start with the milk and flour but we use crisco instead of butter and confectionary sugar instead of granualated. We add a tsp of vanilla but not to much as this frosting in white

For a change we add maple walnut extract and it is so good and use this on a pound cake

Hi Sara or Kate, I made this delish frosting and it turned out great! One question I have is whether I should add the food coloring into the roux as part of the liquid, or at what stage? Because i used liquid coloring, and around 15 drops for a double batch. Everything was great, but it was softer/less stiff than your pictures appear and I’m wondering if the added liquid is the cause. ps. I followed the directions exactly and my roux was plenty thick.

I finally got around to trying this and it was a perfect topper for Picky Palate’s Biscoff Cupcakes. Thanks for scaling it down to a recipe for 12 cupcakes! We love it and will be using this as our go-to cupcake frosting.

it seperates =( i just put the batch in the fridge and ill whip it more in the morning.. one other blog said that if it seperates, its overmixed.. but you mention i need to whip more. im really confused what to do!! im making the chocolate version.

My grandmother used to make this. It was tasty, but often lumpy. Wonderful on coconut cake. On my site is a frosting that will yield almost identical results, but no cooking. Far less finicky. Called custard frosting. Agreed, wonderful icing.

I just made this and it turned into a big fail for me. =( I used a bit of brown sugar and a teaspoon of maple syrup for flavouring. But it just stayed runny and kept separating. Maybe I used too much butter? I think it’s because I live in France and converting cups and tablespoons into grams is a little risky sometimes, specially with pastry. I’ll keep on experimenting.

Okay, this is THE BEST frosting! I hate the really sweet stuff. This is delightful. I actually used this to make cake pops and ended up making more just so I could have some frosting for another cake. OH MY GOODNESS it was amazing. Using REAL butter is the only way this will work. I was worried a bit about it when I heated it on the stove top cause it got thick quick, but it turned out amazing! Thank you so much!

Hi! I have to try to this recipe, how can you not with all those fabulous reviews. Will be baking the cupcakes tonight and preparing the frosting tomorrow. I will be filling the cupcakes with a custard filling that needs to be refrigerated. (these cupcakes will be served on Monday) So, frosting them Sunday and refrigerating overnight. Do you think the frosting will be ok? Unfortunately I wont have time to do a trial run before hand.

This recipe worked beautifully for my Valentine’s cupcakes. I quadrupled (4x) it with no problem. Colored it dark pink with pink sprinkles; cupcakes looked shiny as if with morning dew. I saw one of the children licking the frosting like ice cream. There’s a testimony for you! I tried the recipe again a few days later and ended up with soup, but put it in the frig until it chilled a bit and then it fluffed right back up. Room temperature does matter.

Hi Sara, I don’t even like iceing and if I ever would eat it it would be chocolate but this vanilla iceing is so very good. I have one problem. I know I did something wrong. The iceing has some lumps in it. How can I make it more smooth and also I’m making an arrangement of roses which really is cupcakes attached to styraphome with tooth picks. Will the iceing fall off if the cupcake is tilted on it’s side for a period of time. This is for my son’s engagement so please let me know so I can have a WOW desert for that occasion. Thank you, Lu Ann

Oh. My. Goodness. I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for a couple days now and I’ve been waiting to try it out. My Daughter’s Birthday party is tomorrow and I wanted to test it out today and see how yummy it was. Let’s just say my mouth didn’t know what was about to hit it! DELICIOUS!! I’ve made/had so many different versions of frosting/buttercream but this one seriously is THE best. Thank you so much for sharing this! I know it will be a hit tomorrow at the party and I can’t wait to share it with all my friends 😀

I make this frosting so much that I just leave my tablespoon in the flour! Love it. I think I made my best batch this morning, and realized that one part that can go wrong is if you don’t beat the butter and sugar enough. It struggles to come together in the end if you don’t. And now that I have a stand up mixer this recipe is sooo much easier. Thanks, mom!

I’m so glad I found this website. I am intrigued by the frosting, especially it being something creamy but not too sweet. I read that someone else did strawberry puree with disastrous result, but I decided to give using strawberry puree a try and it worked beautifully with one big modification: I macerated the pureed strawberries first with some sugar (puree 1 pint of strawberries with 1/3 cup sugar, then wait about a half hour). Then I took 1/2 cup of the macerated puree and thickened it as in the recipe. After it cooled, I whipped the butter a bit without adding any sugar. Then I added the cooled strawberry mixture. It came out perfect, slightly sweet, but mostly tart, and ultra creamy. And the strawberry flavor is as clear as if it were sorbet. So, for those interested, here’s the ingredient modification:

I absolutely love this recipe. I tried it the first time with Wal mart butter and 1% milk. I cooked the milk and flour into a big glob, and then i chilled it and it became a big playdough looking glob. I put it in my stand mixer with the butter and sugar and sure enough fter 8 minutes I had perfect frosting. I was making a cinnamon flavored cake at the time so I chucked 1 tsp of cinnamon in this frosting and my family went gaga. The next one I made I put almond extract and it was delish! I can’t go wrong with this easy wonderful recipe. Thanks for sharing!

I cannot believe it. This is the recipe that my family has handed down for the last few generations. I have never seen it before ANYWHERE. We handed it down on scraps of paper. I make it for everyone’s birthday and everyone who has tasted it will tell you that it is the only frosting you will want to eat ever again!

This was, without a doubt, the most delicious frosting I have ever tasted. It was the perfect sweetness & texture. In fact, I couldn’t stop eating the frosting out of the mixer. Yummmmmy. Thanks so much for sharing. This is the only recipe I will ever use again. I was really scared to make it after reading all the reviews, but I found it quite simple. I followed the directions exactly. I wouldn’t change a single thing. I even used a store brand butter (Trader Joe’s) & my frosting was absolute perfection. For those of you that thought it was too salty – here’s a little trick I use often, especially with my holiday butter cookies. I use half salted & half unsalted butter. It’s the best of both worlds. Once again, thanks so much. I can’t wait to try your other recipes.

Ok. I tried this recipe. However I substituted a number of ingredients. Instead of butter I used Nuttelex, a vegetable based spread. Also, instead of full fat milk, I used ‘lite’ soymilk. I used raw cane suger instead of white granulated sugar. Also, to half the mix I added cocoa powder at the end of the process ie. after the mixture had been beaten for ~ 5 minutes. And it turned out great! It came together well and is now sitting on chocolate cupcakes waiting to be eaten. I found the mix did 12 cupcakes nicely. Thanks for the recipe.

Just tried this today. It was wonderful. I will say I added those new Duncan Haines frosting starters. Ya know the ones with flavor. Added it at the very end and it worked. Although I just don’t like the taste of raspberry. Which is the kind my youngest daughter chose because it was purple. Next will be the strawberry add in. Just thought I would share!

Yum!! These cupcakes are so good and moist! We used light pink, purple and green and they are so pretty. Definitely double icing as it is just barely enough. The icing is super smooth and way different than buttercream. I like it so much more. It’s almost cream cheese like.

OMG!! I just have to say THANK YOU! I have been looking for a frosting just like this for a very long time its so light and fluffy. I just made it and it looks just like your pictures. Its just the right sweetness with the cake. =) Thank you again for this amazing frosting recipe.

Haven’t tried the chocolate version yet, but the vanilla one was very nice. I didn’t have to worry about lumps because I put the whisk attachment on my mixer and blended the flour and milk in a small bowl until smooth before heating it. I also don’t particularly like things made with white sauce so I was very hesitant to try it. I didn’t want to risk tasting raw flour in my frosting, so I cooked it until it was quite thick. Thicker than pudding as the recipe suggests. I let it cool (get cold) in the refrigerator while I mixed butter and sugar. When I combined the flour mixture with the sugar mixture, it never even went through the “ugly” stage. It didn’t even take 5 minutes. Made it twice, once was a double batch and it turned out great both times. Oh, I made too many cupcakes so I put them in a covered container in the frig for a couple of days. The frosting was hard while it was cold, but once it reached room temp, it was exactly as before. No seperating at all. I even prefered the cold texture. VERY firm and smooth, but I’m weird that way. I’ll be trying the chocolate version tomorrow!

I tried this for a baby shower last weekend. I def wanted to add lemon ext and vanilla (both) for flavor. Mine has stayed good for 3+ days now in the fridge and looks great (tripled it and had extra). Great for creme filling, didn’t love it for frosting top…ended up making a batch of reg lemon icing for top…perfect rich creme filling-will use again! 🙂

I love this recipe! I have had great success with this recipe in small batches. In larger batches though, something goes wrong. I really love to pile on the frosting and have to make a double batch per batch of cupcakes. Our extended family has grown by leaps and bounds and it now requires a quadruple batch of the frosting…….this is where I need your help. I have not been successfull with this quadrupling….tastes great, but isn’t quite the right consistancy as when I prepare a single or double batch. Any suggestion you have would be appreciated. Thanks so much for posting so many wonderful ideas.

Please can anyone tell me why when I made this frosting it had a buttery after taste , even though it looked and piped really well onto my cupcakes.The buttery taste was a big let down for me.Please Please help……. Thanks in Advance

I am a cupcake freak but have never made a vanilla frosting that I really enjoyed because I strongly dislike the flavor of powdered sugar (I think it’s the cornstarch that’s added to it). Homemade chocolate frosting is fine because the chocolate flavor covers the weirdness. I so, SO want to try your frosting recipe because it looks and sounds delicious (and doesn’t use powdered sugar!), but there are only two of us here and I’m reluctant to make a frosting that will only stay good for a day since it takes us several days to eat even a small batch of cupcakes. One of these days though I WILL make this frosting and I very much look forward to it!

This is the best frosting. I doubled it and used 1 1/2t vanilla and 1/2t butter flavor, yes butter flavor. It is devine. This will be my go to recipe. Butter cream is way to sweet for us. It did take about 10 min with my kitchen aid mixer. I finally put it on the highest speed about 7 min in.

LooksAMAZING…can’t wait to make this. I was just wondering…I am going to make a peanut butter cup cupcake soon and wanted a delicious peanut butter frosting…but your buttercream looks perfect! Do you think there is any way I could make your buttercream taste peanut butter flavored? Thanks:)

This recipe is very similar to the one I use for homemade Twinkie Filling. It’s super fluffy and holds up very well. I normally use as a filling in my cupcakes, but could also make a nice “other than whipped cream” frosting. I always double the batch, but have frozen it for up to two weeks and it’s still wonderful. Just rewhip in the mixer for a couple of minutes! Yu

Just tried making this, it turned out beautful. However, it tastes mainly like straght butter on my cupcakes… did I do something wrong? I doubled the recipe and the texture is great and the color is great but all I taste is butter….wondering if I should have blended it longer or something?

Hi Sara thank you for the awesome frosting Recipe. I have tried the chocolate frosting as well. It taste fantastic even on its own, just like ice cream or whipped cream. By the way i used unsalted butter and it taste just as good. i have to admit this is the best frosting recipe ever. In fact i have your given frosting for a 1000 cupcakes for my son’s school carnival and i am sure it is going to be a hit among the kids.

HEY! This is amazing. Me and my mom are just sitting here eating it by the spoonful. So yummy. I was wondering if there was anyway I could make different (chocolate mostly) flavors out of it. If there is anyway e-mail me! Thanks (chambler97@gmail.com)

I don’t know if anyone else posted these tips, but I find them invaluable to recreating this incomparable frosting…especially on a hot day in CA! 1. Whisk the flour into the COLD milk thoroughly before cooking…no lumps! 2. Cool the flour and milk mix quickly by putting ice in a big bowl with a smaller bowl on top of the ice–whisk/stir for a few minutes and it’s nice and cold. 🙂 3. Use the same method with a hand mixer if your kitchen is hot–it speeds up the whipping time a bit, although I had to watch mine carefully so that it didn’t get TOO cold (it gets really, really stiff!).

Thank you thank you for the best vanilla frosting ever! (If only it didn’t have wheat in it, I could eat it too–but my fam and friends went gaga over it!) I will also experiment with other flavors…but am sooooo happy to finally have a buttercream frosting that I can stand (I LOATHE any and all frostings with powdered sugar in them). 3.

Hi Sara! This is awesome! I’ve tried it and it came great! I was just wondering if by chance I can add a couple of T of peanut butter, nuttela or melted chocolate? Will this be okay with this recipe? Thanks! And keep on making tasty goodies!

Oh my goodness, this frosting is amazing!!! My daughter’s first b-day party is Saturday and I’m making five dozen cupcakes. I’ve tried two other frosting recipes and they were way too sugary sweet. This is perfect! I had no trouble getting the consistency right, however I beat it for about 10 minutes with a hand mixer and can still taste a few grains of sugar. Do I just need to beat it even longer? I really need to get a stand mixer…my arm was getting very tired! But thanks so much for the wonderful frosting!!!

Hi. I’m new at baking/cooking. This is probably a stupid question, but how exactly do I measure out a cup of butter? Is one stick of butter= to a cup…half a cup…or something? Haha…sorry about the stupid question

I always wanted to learn how to make vanilla frosting and i never liked it so I found this recipe so I said I will give it a try I fell in love with it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!thank u soooooooo much I Will give u five stars!!!!!!!!!

I’m one of those people who don’t like those too buttery conventional buttercream and sickeningly sweet frostings. But this, this is simply brilliant! The first time I made it, I doubled the recipe after seeing so many positive reviews! And I’m glad I took that risk! =D Made rainbow cupcakes for a friend’s birthday treat with this frosting, EVERYBODY loved it! Thank you so much for sharing!

Hey Sara and Kate, I have been using this/your recipe for years and we absolutely love it. My husband threw a wrench in my plans this week when he told me he wants cornbread cupcakes with a honey butter frosting on them for his birthday next week. I am happy to comply but would love to adapt this frosting recipe to taste like a honey/butter frosting. Any help or ideas from you on this would be so appreciated. Do you think I could swap out the majority of the sugar with honey (make a honey butter) and then beat in the flour/milk mixture, omit the vanilla and end up with a usable frosting? I don’t have a lot of time to play around with this, so any advice would be great. THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

i wanted to find a recipe for buttercream frosting for the cupcakes i was making for my daughter’s 2nd birthday and when i searched for “best frosting recipes” – all the websites were giving recipes that required cooking a portion of the ingredients. i had never done that before, but OMG – this was truly the best frosting i have EVER made! not too sweet and love the buttery taste! it does require a bit more time because of the cooking and cooling of the flour & milk and also the beating, but mine turned out perfectly! i actually thought i had over-beat it because it looked like it was becoming watery, but when i put it in the pastry bag to pipe, it totally held its shape nicely! would recommend this recipe to anyone who asks, but maybe i’ll keep this one as a special cupcake secret of mine, haha!

So… I did a peanut butter version and it worked!!! I feel like I need to share- I substituted 2 Tablespoons of the butter for 2 Tablespoons of peanut butter and left the vanilla out all together. It is delicious!! So glad I found this recipe!

OK ladies. I’ve searched FOREVER for the right frosting recipe. I’m a maw-maw and mama taught baker; have loved it my whole life, and also known there was a better recipe out there to use for frosting. I can never get the right consistency to pile high on a cupcake. I just know yall are on to something. Can’t wait to try this…..tonight! Thanks dearly. Cassie

This is absolutely the BEST not too sweet frosting I’ve ever tasted. I can’t get over how delicious and light this tastes. I made it with 1 T of tequila rose and 1 T of rose water on some banana cupcakes and they were sooooo good. Thank you so much for such a wonderful recipe. I followed the recipe exactly (except for the flavoring) and it was super easy!!

I loved the frosting but it had a hint of flavor after taste. It also would never cover a cake. I made a 13×9.Wow it would have to been very very thin layer. Did something happen to make that flour taste. I love the idea of no powder sugar. I love natural frostings. I hate store frostings. They are terrible. Hats off to you for your wonderful frostings. If you have any idea what i did let me know. I will diffenitely use this again just have to figure out how to get that after taste gone.

My sister just made this for the cake I baked for my mom’s birthday. We were looking for something without a ton of butter and this was wonderful!!! We can’t stop eating it. We’d better frost the cake before we eat it all!!

I’m really excited to try this recipe! However, I’m nervous that when I dye it with food coloring to make it a very bright pink it will get runny. I’ve had disasters like that in the past and was just wondering if you thought it could happen with this recipe too. I know it says you can color it, but I will probably be using many drops of food coloring!! I wanna make sure these cupcakes are perfect for my party!!

Kelley- definitely don’t use liquid food coloring, if you’re ending up with runny frosting, that’s why! You want to use gel or paste coloring. You get way more color, and not a lot of liquid. You can buy it in the baking section of craft or cooking stores.

I don’t have my stand mixer here, all I have is my hand mixer, will it still work?? I want to try this but I don’t want to waste time and resources if it will be a bust… the insructions say stand mixer.

Sara, I love to bake so my aunt asked me to bake some mini cupcakes for her 4-year old’s birthday party. I wanted something light to go with my strawberry mini cupcakes. I was devastated with a whipped cream recipe that consisted of a light cream cheese ingredient. I basically overbeated and killed my topping. I stumbled upon your recipe and what a miracle!!!! Thank you for this recipe. This recipe is exactly what I’ve been searching for. =)

I just came across this recipe a few weeks ago and used it on rainbow cupcakes for my son’s birthday. Can I just say this frosting is rediculously awesome!? This is my new fave and will be my go to frosting recipe from now on…Thanks!!!

Great frosting. I’ve done this successfully with the addition of cream cheese: substitute 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening for the butter in the recipe, complete the process until your frosting is done. Then whip in 8 oz of cream cheese. Best cream cheese icing ever!

Yet another comment just to say how AWESOME this frosting is. U N B E L I E V A B L E !!!!! My 5 year old loves buttercream, but I’m not a big fan, it’s overly sweet for me. I tried whipped cream frosting, but my son didn’t like that. “Not sweet enough” is what he said 😉 So today is my baby’s 1st birthday and I decided to give this frosting a shot. I’m not the big baker, but this was fool-proof! I followed your instructions to the dot and came out excellent. I doubled the recipe for 24 cupcakes. My 5 year old approved enthusiastically (he’s asking right now if he can have a 3rd cupcake) and my 1 year old has now blue frosting all over his face (which confirms that coloring works very well too) I am VERY thankful for this recipe. Now if only I could find a way to make this in advance…

The first time I made it, it was too sweet. But the second time I made it, instead of using 1/2 cup of sugar, I only 1/4 cup. Delicious. I added orange zest and it was perfect! Thanks for this wonderful recipe.

THIS IS FANTASTIC FROSTING. MADE IT FOR MY DAUGHTERS BABY SHOWER AND EVERYONE WENT GAH GAH OVER IT!! IT KEPT VERY WELL EVEN IN HOW WEATHER IN THE SHADE. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING!! BTW… I QUADRUPLED THE RECIPE AND IT HAPPILY ICED 28 CUPCAKES PILED HIGH OF COURSE! CHEERS FROM CANADA

This frosting is delicious. Thank you for the detailed instructions, I was making this wrong for a while. I was not completely cooling the flour/milk mixture, therefore getting chunky lumps in frosting. Thanks again!

I just had my kitchen redone and to break it in I hosted a Cupcakes Wars! We had two teams competing (my sisters and cousin). I used this recipe for my frosting because like many of you I do not like sickeningly sweet frosting. Everyone said this was the best frosting they ever had. i just finished emailing them all the recipe. And my team won the competition!! Thanks!

This frosting is perfect. Everyone loved it. Just the right mix between a whip cream frosting and a buttercream. Light, tasty, and worked perfect for frosting the cupcakes. This will be my go-to frosting for sure.

I hate to be the jerk leaving the neg comment. But let’s just say I’m very glad I didn’t tell anyone I was making cupcakes today because I would have been embarrassed. The 1/2 cup of butter turned out to be a greasy disaster. After muscling down 2 cupcakes… my lips looked and felt like I’d just had a Krispy Kreme Burger. If I Ever try this recipe again. I’d make sure the butter was ice cold, cut down the amount by almost half. Add some shortening to increase shelf plus it’s always a solid. And I would add some powdered sugar to absorb some of the grease.

Did you make sure you used good quality butter? I made this a few months ago and it was amazing. I made sure I bought name brand higher end butter and followed directions to a T and made sure to use granulated sugar and it was perfect.

This came together just fine for me. I didn’t let the butter soften, just cut it up and worked with it until I could beat easily with the sugar. For me this was quite different and just ok. I liked it, but, it was a little too buttery. If you use the salted butter, you will definitely have a salty frosting. I like a little salt in sweet stuff. But because this recipe is mostly butter, I would either use unsalted and add salt at the end, or use half salted, half unsalted. I also appreciate recipes like this that aren’t sickening sweet. But for a frosting, I think this could be a bit sweeter and still be ok.

Tried your frosting recipe and it came out great! Piped it and the design held up. Just got a question though. I had leftovers so decided the next day to beat in some gel food coloring to see how it’ll come out. The color would take but after a few minutes I could see light pooling / streaking on the frosting. Any technique you or your readers can share on how to color this type of frosting? Thanks again for the great recipe!

I recently made a wedding cake using this in between the torted layers of cake. The result? Amazing! The cake was layers of orange and white-chocolate cake; I flavored the filling with half the specified vanilla and a couple of drops of orange oil. It tasted like a creamsicle. The reception was held outside a couple of hours before sunset. I was a little worried that the filling would separate in the heat, but it held up beautifully. The bride was so pleased!

I just finished frosting the dinosaur cupcakes and 6″ mini cake to be delivered in an hour. My cake starts to bulge in the middle. Is it bec. of the heavy fondant toppings? I filled the cake with frosting and it was quite a lot. I need your advise if I should refrigerate the cake with frosting or not? How long should I refrigerate it since the frosting is not stable in the fridge according to the other comments I read here in your blog? I’m making another mini cake this Friday and I don’t want any disaster since it’s for boss day.

We are gluten free at our house. Can you suggest an alternative flour to use in this recipe? I want to use it for my son’s birthday, but don’t want to ruin it by using the wrong substitution. Or If the flour is acting as a thickener, could I use corn starch instead? Thanks.

Oh my heavenly God. For years I have had a favorite cake place… a tiny little bakery in Hebron, IN. I live too far from her now and desperately miss her cakes– mostly her frosting. Guess what? I made this frosting tonight and the moment I took the first taste I knew! It’s the same! This is really so very bad for you but amazingly wonderful frosting. It’s a little bit buttery for me, though. I used a stick of unsalted and a stick of salted butter and let it come to room temperature. I did not have to whip it for that long, just FYI. I think I will try this again and use a stick and a half just to see what it tastes like. Thank you so much for sharing this.

I used this Saturday night. Made cupcakes for my son’s primary class. I even used Splenda in it. Yes Splenda. I wasn’t likeing the taste but added some raspeberry flavoring and it turned out great. Thanks this will work for me.

This is really good! The first time I made it, it was too runny and finally separated. I think it was because I didn’t use heaped tablespoons for the flour. I also didn’t cook it enough. But I made it again and it turned out GREAT!! I used an electric hand mixer – but the first time I ran it on medium which didn’t work out so well. The second time I ran it on high for 5 minutes and it worked like a charm! Yum yum. Thank you, Sara!

I love this frosting! It tastes so much lighter than regular buttercream frosting! However, mine never seems to be firm enough to pipe onto a cupcake like in your picture….any tips?! I’ve heard people say that if it’s too warm it won’t do so well…but I’m in Ireland…trust me, it’s not too warm!!! :-). I also use proper good grade butter (have tried half butter, half shortening, but no difference) I’ve tried refrigerating it, but strange things happen to it then!! Any tips appreciated,! I don’t want to have to go back to regular buttercream!! Thanks

I wanted to read all of your coments, but it is far too many! Anyways, I tried the recipe and it was amazing! Very good! I was looking for a healthier type of frosting, this is not quite it yet, because of the amount of butter, but I was happy that it was not shortening (pure trans fat) and that it had way less sugar than conventional icing or frosting! I wish I read your notes beforehand, since I did not make enough to frost 18 cupcakes! But I will just have to make a new one! Left it in the fridge overnight after frosting some, I will try to use it today! Also put a frosted cupcake in the fridge and it was very good! Harder but interesting! Looks pretty fresh still! And the taste… Still great! Thanks!

A few years ago someone commented that leaving this overnight caused it to separate. What if I frost the cupcakes and put them in the fridge overnight, will they fall apart? I need to color a light, whipped frosting but sounds like this recipe tastes great only if you do the frosting and serve day of. I don’t know many people who have time to bake all day of an event and I certainly don’t so will it survive chilled on cupcakes overnight?

Used this recipe for my daughter’s 1st birthday. AMAZING! Great texture, flavor, and even better it doesn’t take a whole box of confectioner’s sugar!!! It doesn’t require ANY confectioner’s sugar. Just delicious and soooo easy! Thank you!

I’ve been making cupcakes for months & I finally made the perfect frosting. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I have to change a few things because it was a little sweet & buttery for my taste. I tried 3 batches of the pudding mixture using whole milk, vanilla creamer & whole milk mix with 1 tbsp of coffee granules. I also cut down the butter & sugar to 1/4 cups. I tried to experiment so I can get the mocha flavored frosting I wanted to frost the mini cake & 60 cupcakes I’m making for a bday party tomorrow.

Here’s the final recipe for a delicious mocha frosting: 3/4 cup butter, 1/2 cup of sugar, combine all 3 different flavored pudding mix & 1 tsp vanilla extract. By the way, can I use Splenda to replace the granulated sugar? I have friends who are diabetic & wanted a sugar free frosting.

Just replace the butter with the unsalted one because 1/4 cup is not enough to hold a nice consistency as mentioned to my previois comment. I also end up cutting more the sugar amount to less than 1/4 cup. Amazing recipe!

I lovelovelove this recipe, with one major problem. I use this recipe very often, but half the time it comes out perfect, half the time it looks normal, tastes normal, except it develops these weird little beige-yellow-white (?) type balls in it :/ It sounds really strange, but it keeps happening and i have no idea how to fix it! At first i thought maybe i was overbeating and somehow curdling it, but i don’t think it’s that. Then i thought maybe the butter was too warm because it had been sitting out…but nothing i change or do seems to stop it from happening 🙁 Does it matter if i mix it by hand or with an electric whisk? Am i supposed to use the beating paddles instead of the whisk attachement? The balls dont tastes of anything, but they looks odd and im not sure what to tell people if they ask?! If anyone has a suggestion, i would be so, so grateful!!

The dinosaur 6 inch round cake & 3 dozen cupcakes was a big hit last Saturday’s birthday party. They love the frosting & I got orders until Dec. I had fun coloring the frosting & it was easy to use when designing the cake. Thank you again for sharing this recipe. I will be trying the chocolate & cream cheese frosting this week.

Just made this frosting tonight for the candy corn cupcakes you posted. The frosting turned out scrumptious!!! Cupcakes too. My 7 year old son is going to be so excited when he sees what I’m taking to school for their fall festival!

Please check the website http://www.abakedcreations.com for the my (Maila’s)dinosaur cake and cupcake tower creations using your vanilla buttercream frosting recipe. The buttercream was easy to work with especially when adding gel based colors. It was a big hit at my friend’s 3 y/o party due to the vibrant colors, but most of all because of the superb taste. Thank you for sharing your recipe!

I was a little hesitant to make this recipe after reading the first 100 or so comments but I found this SUPER easy and delicious!!! It didn’t even take 5 minutes with my hand mixer and standard beaters. I made lime/neon green frosting with 8 drops of neon liquid food coloring. AWESOME!!,

This frosting is AMAZING!! I used Costco brand salted butter and it turned out great. I did a test batch on Friday night to see if it would hold up in the fridge. I let it come to room temp but it looked brownish and separated so I decided not to even attempt to re-whip it. I made a fresh double batch and got rave reviews. I am not a frosting fan and usually prefer a whipped cream but this is the best of both worlds. Will definitely be using again along with the white cake recipe. YUM! You guys have never failed me yet!

I’ve been googling to find a recipe that is less sweet than the classic buttercream but still cools to be quite “sturdy” and doesn’t melt away as soon as it’s in a warm room for more than an hour. It’s to make a rainbow cake and the frosting needs to set quite well to enable cutting of what ends up being a VERY tall cake. Could this work? I’d be making the cake the night before the party – the comments suggest that the frosting just sets a little harder but is fine otherwise? I’m a bit nervous anyway as we use precise weights to cook and bake where I live, a cup of butter means nothing to me but I’ll google the answers to that, no worries…

Dear Sara, Thanks a million for this recipe…it is outstanding. i had no issues with the texture. followed ur recipe and results were amazing…….I am going to make the black magic cupcakes for my daughter’s 8th b’day and top it with this icing and the chocolate version as well……………so excited…thanks again.

I’ve read about stabilizing whipped frostings with unflavored gelatin. Would that ruin this perfect frosting? Like me, my customer LOVES this frosting. However, travel to the party time and cupcakes sitting time will be over 2 hours and I worry about the frosting separating or sliding. Do I dare mess with it and add unflavored gelatin?? or just pray to the cupcake gods that all goes well? I will appreciate any input! Thank you

This frosting is awesome – it really does taste like whipped cream! I could eat it by the spoonful! I was nervous because of the comments, but I went ahead and made it with no problems. The key was that I just let it keep going in the stand mixer until it firmed up.

I absolutely love frosting! Especially homemade frosting! Throughout my years of experimentation with different recipes, I have come to the conclusion that I do not like frosting made with confectioners sugar! Call me weird, but I find it overwhelmingly sweet! Anywho… I was ecstatic when I found this recipe! One night, my DH had a sweet tooth, so I decided to be the awesome wife that I am and baked a yummy vanilla cake from scratch. This had to be the perfect frosting for this unnecessary late night snack! I have to tell you that my following comments are NO exaggeration! I followed the instruction to the t! I beat the frosting for 10 minutes. I saw nothing to call glorious, so, like you mentioned, I remained patient and continued. 20 minutes passed- nothing. 30 minutes- nothing. 45 minutes-nothing! NINETY minutes- nothing! After a few choice words and some tears of aggrevation, I was we’ll passed my patience level! I was ready to call it quits! This was the mother of all FAILS! (Oh, I did taste it, the flavor was really good!)”NO!” I yelled, hoping my 15 month old and DH wouldn’t awake (DH at this point had already eaten his piece of cake without the frosting and gone to bed). I had already put do much time and energy, I was determined to find a way to make it work! I ended up adding about a tablespoon more of sugar and a pack of instant vanilla pudding! After a few minutes, it was finally a frosting consistency! It tasted yummy!

This is the best frosting I’ve ever tasted. I had no problem with the butter but the flour mixture got a little lumpy because it cooks really fast. The taste is awesome. Just what I was looking for – an edible frosting. I often end up removing the frosting on cakes. Flavouring is what gives the frosting its taste. I tasted the mixture before adding vanilla and it simply tasted like sugary butter which is not very pleasant. The vanilla made all the difference.

I made a test batch of this frosting this morning. It was pretty easy and I love the light texture and flavor. It will be perfect on my spice cupcakes which are a delicate flavor and don’t stand up to regular American buttercream. Thanks for the recipe.

I haven’t tried this recipe yet but from what I’ve read it seems like it will be a winner. I am wondering of this icing works well under fondant. My family loves cream cheese frosting but it doesnt hold up well under fondant so I’m looking for a replacement.

It’s AWESOME!!!! I mess up the consistency every time cause i get lumps in the batter mixture and/or get the flour + milk in a big lump, but the taste is still divine! My whole family loves it and it finishes all too soon.

Can I use this icing for tres leches cake? I generally use whip creme but I have to worry about freezing or refrigerating and when transporting have to keep it in ice box. I am looking for something similar to whip creme icing that will taste good and set well on tres leches.

I tried a gluten-free version and it came out tasting delicious but no matter how long I whisked for it remained a bit separated. I really liked the taste and it was even nicer with cacao. I could pipe simple swirls but leaves and flowers didn’t really keep their shape, I suspect that can be due to the gluten-free flour.

I wish I could find a frosting tasting like this but better for piping.

Holy moley! just made this to frost cupcakes for a party at my son’s school and man is it yummy! I doubled the recipe and my kids (and hubby) ate the leftover frosting with a spoon. Also, I used green food coloring (and a significant amount as I was aiming for a dark green) and it held up just fine. Def the only frosting I will be making for cupcakes from now on…love the texture and just the right amount of sweetness. Thank you!!!

I’ve tried this recipe and sometimes it works out other times it doesn’t. what am I doing wrong if it starts to look curdled (looks like buttercream when the butter and water content in the butter separate). I’m sure it isn’t undermixing because I do mix for 8-10 minutes. I also put it through a sieve to make sure no lumps. this is not lumpy, just looks separated. Almost like there are minute droplets of water in it. Can’t figure it out. Thanks.

I was more than a little skeptical about a frosting with flour in it….i mean, flour goes in the CAKE, not the frosting…..right??? What a pleasant surprise, this was wonderful! Not too sweet like a lot of buttercreams. This may be one of the best vanilla buttercreams i have found, and boy, have i been looking for what seems like forever! Give it a whirl, you wont be disappointed!

I decided to make this frosting for some cupcakes for Super Bowl today. I was a little nervous about using flour as I had never heard of using flour for frosting; however, this frosting is perfect! This has gone into my favorite recipes and not many make it in there! Thank you for sharing this recipe. 🙂

Yum! Stumbled across this post as I googled how to frost a cupcake. Just made this frosting for Valentine’s Day and it was PERFECT! I love the fact that this buttercream recipe doesn’t call for shortening. The consistency was perfect. Thank you!

Sara I made this for my niece’s 2nd birthday cupcake cake and it is THE BEST frosting I have ever had in my life! I will never use another frosting recipe again! Question though….can I add chocolate powder and it still come out yummy?

Glad you liked it! Chocolate is a little tricky- it tastes amazing, but sometimes it does funky things to it. You can experiment though! Or check out the other chocolate frostings on this site- they’re both amazing, and similar.

Just wondering if this can be used to frost a cake that you are not going to use a piping bag for. I want to make a layer cake, and just frost with a spatula. Then make some additional cupcakes to go along with it, that I will frost with the tip. I didnt want to have to do 2 separate frostings. What do you think?

Thank you so much for posting this! I’ve tried soooo many buttercream recipes and found them too sickly/heavy for the light sponges they sit on. This is perfect! I actually had no whole milk so I used half skimmed milk (all I had) and half whipping cream (wasn’t hopeful) and it turned out incredibly! First time round! Absolutely delicious. Thank you!

I have been looking for this recipe, because I lost mine a couple of years ago. I first found it 45 years ago with a “Waldorf’s Red Devil’s Food Cake”recipe. It is great with that. Our family likes it with just the slightest touch of granules still in the icing after it has been beaten until fluffy and almost completely smooth. Obviously, I have to make a much larger batch. Thanks for sharing this and all the other good ideas for flavors and use of it. Also thanks for the warning about cheap butter.

I have made this a few times, and every time it was great! I have a few comments, though. First, every time except one I used the flat paddle attachment on my mixer rather then the whisk. The other time I used the whisk. I noticed that the flat paddle is easier to use and faster and produces the same result. Also, instead of cooling my flour/milk mix in the fridge, I put the pot into a bigger pot of ice. It works great and only take about 10-15 minutes to cool.

Thank you! I made this frosting today to go on cupcakes (your old fashioned chocolate cake recipe!) and was surprised how good it really was! Thanks, you guys are the best!!! I’m not a fan of chocolate cake, or frosting really, but happily gobbled down 2!

I made this and the chocolate frosting today. The chocolate is divine, but while the white frosting has a great taste, the butter would not emulsify as some of the other posters have mentioned. I didn’t use weird butter. It strikes me that my most likely mistake was that I didn’t cook the flour for long enough? Too much water would keep the butter from emulsifying, wouldn’t it? I cooked the flour/millk mixture until thick, but it was still pourable.

A friend gave me this recipe about 35 years ago and called it “Ice Cream Frosting”. I lost it a few years later and also lost touch with my friend as life happens. I cannot believe I stumbled onto this recipe by accident. I actually clicked on the wrong link and this page pop up!! I cold not believe it. Now I am so excited to try it once again. How ever one question! I want to make it and frost cupcakes the night before a luncheon. According to the directions if you keep it in the fridge overnight, you need to fluff it back up before using. If I keep the cupcake frosted in the fridge over night.will the frosting start to breakdown or will they be ok? I would hate to brag about this frosting and then have it all lumpy and dripping all over the place. Looking foward to trying this again!!!!!

I’m a baking FIEND (aside from a glitter addict, makeup hoarder, and shoe fiend) and food is important coming from an Italian family. This is THE BEST icing recipe I’ve ever come across, and I’m only using this when I can from now on!!

My only change is to try and use a different type of flour that isn’t wheat for a gluten-intolerant friend of mine and hope it comes out just as scrumptious! I’ve also found that if you let the cuppies/cake sit out overnight, the frosting stiffens up considerably well and holds up great! Mine didn’t separate at all.

During the cooking process, I used a sifter (one of those old fashioned double screened one that looks like it’s made from a coffee can, painted, and has a handle and “whirlies” inside… Though I’m sure a plain sifter that’s rather fine will work well also) to slowly add the flower to the milk in my pan, so I had no clumps at all- so I hope that helps some of you who have had trouble with clumps! And because I was super-impatient to make this frosting, I used an ice bath to cool down the milk-flour mixture quickly…. That worked great well too! I just used an offset spatula to mix it up ever 30 seconds or so.

Oh yeah, I added gel food coloring with no problems whatsoever… I made lemon cake, and lemon frosting to compliment it… They were absolutely divine! The extra is currently in a bowl that I stuck it in, with a spoon that I’m taking a few nibbles from… It’s JUST SO GOOD!!!

Wow…I have to admit I was a non-believer! How could a flour based icing taste good?? I followed the recipe exactly as written and to my amazement I have beautiful white frosting in my mixing bowl! This really is simple to make and wonderful tasting THANK YOU SARA!!!!

I’m not a fan of buttercream (too buttery for me!) and so I’ve been looking for a good frosting recipe. I also don’t have confectioner’s sugar right now so it was great I found this. This was very good and easy to make! Mine turned out fine even though I used (& risked) margarine as a substitute since I also had no butter on hand. Will try this again next time using real butter.

Is it ok to reduce the amount of butter and sugar? Or will it have an effect on the final product asides from the taste?

I made this and it was totally YUMMY. Thank’s for sharing this recipe. I am wondering, can we use this butterceam for cakes to be covered with fondant. You mentioned that it was better eaten on the same day. As for cake, we will need to frost the cake and crumb coat then place in the fridge, do you think this buttercream will be suitable for it. Thank you 🙂

So I realize that this recipe was posted a long time ago and so I’m not sure if I will get a response to this or not, but it’s worth a try. I would like to make this recipe for my husband’s birthday but I would like to use a gel food coloring in the recipe. Has anyone tried dying this icing recipe?

I just wanted to take the time to tell you that I actually made this icing for my mini cupcakes a few weeks ago. It was FABULOUS. Perfect light texture that was not overbearing. I’m not much of an icing fan as it is usually too heavy and sweet. Anyone having issues with this recipe is clearly not following directions! lol Also, I think a good electric stand mixer makes ALL the difference! I made 150 mini cupcakes that were perfectly fine being stored at room temperature in a container up to a week. No cupcake went uneaten. lol I was told to open a cupcake shop! YUM. Great icing. thanks 😉

I just made this frosting with coffee-vanilla two layered cupcakes and let me tell you how gorgeous they were! The frosting’s the first frosting I can stomach that has a large quantity of butter in, which is a huge thing for me. Please, please try this!

Now, I’m not a frosting person so I used this recipe (to slightly different proportions) as it claimed not be be as sweet as other frosting recipes, and the results- WOW! This must be one of the best frosting recipes ever, because I got it SO right despite making it in a last minute rush, as I had guests over for dinner, and I cooked the flour mixture on high to speed it up, put the pan in the freezer to cool it, didn’t measure the butter as accurately as I should have and it STILL turned out AMAZING. My first attempt at a frosting, piped beautifully! All the guests were so impressed (will post pics on my blog soon!) and my husband, who doesn’t like sweet things much, LOVED it! If you’re looking for something really light, not overly sweet and that pipes well, try this!

I had no problems with this recipe at all. I live in Europe and have never quite figured out how to measure the butter accurately without filling up the measuring cup, and I am too lazy for that.

I doubled the recipe. The first thing I did was add the flour and milk together in a jar and shook the dickens out of it, then cooked it into a paste. I think I did not cook it long enough as it thickened up so quickly, just a minute or two. I did not have any lumps. Because it looked quite horrifying, I panicked and beat it while it was hot, just for good measure. I had read the comments and decided to soldier on with the recipe.

I cooled the mix completely then finished the recipe. I measured the sugar and eyeballed the butter. I only have a hand mixer, and my company was arriving soon, so I didn’t beat it long enough, or so I think. The color, consistency, and flavor were just fine. It piped onto the cupcakes smoothly with no lumps. I added some rainbow sprinkles to the top to match the rainbow papers.

I was quite pleased with the frosting and how the cupcakes looked. I used a cupcake recipe from a different site, and it needs some work, next time, I will try one from here.

I know I’m a few years late seeing this post….but I am just DYING to make this frosting!! After reading most of the reviews (sorry – I just couldn’t do all 200!), and after all I’ve already heard about this frosting, I just can’t WAIT to try it out! However, I am willing to hold off until I can get out and buy brand butter. I’m willing to make a little sacrifices because I want to experience what everyone else gets to.

Now, I just have a few random questions: 1. You say use brand butter because it does not contain anything weird or funky like generic, cheap butter. So you think this would work from homemade butter whipped straight from cream?? 2. I know someone else asked this but I never saw an answer…why granulated and not confectioners? 3. About how long would you say it takes to cool the milk/flour paste in the fridge?

I want to make cupcakes for my birthday get together coming up, but I have a lactose-intolerant friend and I want her to feel included. I’m making angel food cupcakes (which are dairy-free naturally), and I have a dairy-free chocolate icing recipe to use, but I wanted to do the dual colored icing to be more fun. So…this white icing is great because you can make it any color with food coloring, but…Lots of dairy in it!

Do you think that unsweetened almond/soy/coconut milk would work as a substitute? Also, for the other icing, I’m using soy margarine instead of butter… Do you think that will work for this recipe too?

Additionally, I live in a teeny apartment in NYC… my toaster and microwave are already competing for the counter space, so I have an electric hand mixer, not a standing one. Do you have any tips for making this mix correctly with a hand mixer? I

Hm… maybe I will just try it and report back! It’s only 5 ingredients and I already have 3 of them 🙂 If it works, I’ll let you know and then you can offer Best Icing Option Ever – Vegan Style recipe for people living in teeny tiny apartments 🙂

This is probably the worst recipe I’ve ever went for. I did exact proportions and it tasted too buttery and no taste of sugar or sweetness. I do not recommend this to anyone. This is a fail. This is only something Paula deen would eat cuz it’s basically whipped butter

I know this is an old post, but this turned out so nice I had to say!!

I used lactose free skimmed milk and lactose free margarine. It turned out great. I think the trick is to mix everything really really well till you get no lumps (as you said). Mine kept in the fridge for a day (I think it could have a kept a little more but it was all used up!!)…. =) Totally recommend this!

I made this frosting for a fourth of July cake I was making and the frosting turned out too sweet. I don’t like vanilla frosting too sweet..and that’s just what this was…I’ve had better vanilla frostings.

Made this yesterday for my daughters 4th birthday party. I made the milk/flour mixture the night before, but then ran out of time to finish and so I left that it in the fridge overnight. I took it out a few hours before finishing to let it come back to room temperature, but it was definitely still a bit chilly. I mixed it with the butter and sugar, and beat it for what seemed like forever. I still had little balls of the milk/flour that would not break up, though. I tried piping it anyway, but my tip got clogged. I was ready to throw in the towel and start over when my husband decided to run it through a mesh strainer, and it worked! We got all the clumps out, and we still had enough to cover all the cupcakes! It was delicious!! Next time I won’t put my mixture in the fridge for so long, and I may not cook it as long, either.

Yes Becca, and it’s AMAZING. Basically you just whip in some softened cream cheese at the end to taste. Since cream cheese is dense and the frosting is light and fluffy, I beat the cream cheese until it’s really soft, and then slowly beat in about 1/3 of the frosting. Then you can either fold it together, or gently beat it until combined. I just go by taste on the cream cheese- so maybe start with about 4 ounces per one batch of frosting and add more if you want a stronger cream cheese flavor. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

my g’ma used to make this frosting, as frosting waaaaaay back when were started with a roux. my question is how can I get it to be white? its always an off white color, even though I’ve used clear vanilla extract. thank you as I want to frost cupcakes for a wedding–really needs to be white.

Just wondering I made this tonight and it tastes like butter. I feel like I followed the directions so I’m not sure where I went wrong? After it mixed, i added more sugar to it to tone down the butter taste but it never desolved. Thoughts? I put it in the fridge and plan on mixing it in the am to see if it taste any better Thanks

Need urgent advice on coloring the frosting. Making pull-away cupcake cake for my son this Sunday (Minecraft Creeper) and wanted to make the frosting emerald green and black. Can this recipe be amended to include color? If so, what should I use? First time ‘from scratch’ baker, in case you can’t tell 🙂 Thanks a bunch!

My daughter wanted bubblegum flavored icing for her birthday. They have these flavor packets in the cake isle that you can just mix in the canned frosting. Well, I despise canned frosting so I tried using this recipe and mixed in the bubblegum flavor and omitted the vanilla. It turned out great. The kids loved the bubblegum flavor!! It tasted great if bubblegum is your thing. Next I’m trying it with the cotton candy flavor!!! Thanks again for your wonderful recipes.

Anyone made this for a birthday party that they had to travel to? I have a 2 hour drive and no time to make it when I arrive. Will the frosting survive on the cupcakes in a vehicle that long???? I love this frosting!!!! I could use a different recipe if needed but this one is my first pick!

I made my cupcakes well in advance and refrigerated them. Then, the frosting was nice and firm. I didn’t have to travel with them, but I did have them out of the refrigerator and displayed for about 2 1/2 hours before we ate them. I think they would be fine–especially if you keep them in a cupcake carrier in a cooler. Good luck!

I just made this recipe today and I have to say that if you follow it exactly as directed, it will turn out excellent. My family does not tend to like frosting but they loved this one. It was especially delicious on top of homemade banana cake. Thanks for the awesome recipe!

Oh my Goodness! I found my new Frosting. I don’t think I will ever go back to Buttercream again! So easy and much less mess. No powdered sugar all over. I had no problems at all. I used Sweet cream Butter off brand. That was just what I had on had, I used a hand mixer and in no time at all it was made. I did not put my milk flour mmix in the refrigerator. I left it out on the counter to cool off. I did mix my milk in flour very well before heating it to get out all the lumps. My frosting had no flour taste what so ever. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe I love it! doesn’t make much so I think I will quadruple it next time. yep its that good!

I made this recipe for the first time and got TONS of compliments on the delicious frosting! I made it the night before, and I just brought it to room temp before re-whipping and icing my cupcakes. I stored my cupcakes in the refrigerator since I made them a few hours before the baby shower. This allowed the frosting to firm up and look very silky. Not only did they taste amazing, but the frosting looked beautiful. I made a cupcake bouquet, and several people thought they were real yellow roses! I used 1/2 white sugar and 1/2 brown sugar. I wouldn’t recommend this if your icing needs to be a light color b/c it was definitely beige and not too attractive before I added a lot of yellow food coloring. Huge success! Thanks!!

I made this for the first time yesterday for my son’s birthday. Best ever! I’ve made lots of cakes and cupcakes for family birthdays, always using the typical buttercream frosting. This was so much better. It didn’t give me a headache like buttercream usually does. Afterwards, by brother sent me a text saying that he had just eaten his cupcake and it was the best he had ever had! I know it was the icing and not the Duncan Hines boxed cake mix! 🙂 I will never go back to buttercream again.

After 15 years of watching my mom make this icing, followed by 35 years of making it myself, I found out that if you let the flour/milk paste cool to room temperature, rather than putting it in the fridge, it will be just warm enough to melt the granulated sugar so you don’t have to worry about it being grainy.

Can anyone comment if turbinado raw sugar (from Trader Joe’s) can be used? I read through all 600+ comments and saw no reference. And why granulated vs powdered? Just curious….Thanks! I’m ready to make it but don’t have granulated =)

I made this today to try on some of my cupcakes and was not super thrilled. It turned out perfect consistency and texture and piped beautifully but my husband and I did not care for the taste. I feel like its too buttery and definitely not sweet at all. With the cupcakes it just tasted bland-sorry. I don’t like an overly sweet frosting either but this just didn’t do it for me.

Made this tonight for a yellow cake, topped it with fresh strawberries – omgosh so yummy! I love how light and fluffy it is, and how it uses way less butter and sugar than other recipes. It’s a keeper!

I love this icing! It is absolutely heavenly. I was never a huge fan of regular icing because it is always to heavy and rich for my taste, but this is delightful. Light and delicate, but not too much. Beautiful. I followed the recipe and realized that the end product didn’t hold it’s shape enough for my taste, so I added some marshmallow fluff into it. It gave a thicker consistency, but still kept the light taste for the most part. However, if you plan on putting in marshmallow fluff, put it in a little bit at a time. Hope you enjoy this icing as much I did! 🙂

Hi! What is the shelf-life of this icing/filling? You said it’s better used “fresh.” How will it hold up, for instance, if I use it to decorate cupcakes on a Friday night for a party Saturday afternoon? Or even Saturday evening? Thanks! And I look forward to trying your recipe!

Hi, I’m new to the frosting/icing world, so it gets confusing and daunting for me at times. I had a HUGE failure with a different frosting recipe (it turned into a drizzle and I just dont know what to do with it >.>) but my question is while heating on the stove, should I worry about adjusting the heat to a different temperature?

I know gas stoves and electric stoves tend to heat differently, even if you have it set at the same area. I have an electric stove, so I’m not sure if medium heat is still ok or if I should lower it (or vice versa). Ive been dying to make cupcakes so when I had that huge backfire with my first attempt I was so heart broken (I spent a half hour trying to make it into icing/frosting).

I just made this.. with.. wait for it…. HONEY. 😀 No other sugar. I was trying to see if I could make a frosting without any refined sugar in it, and the method of this one with the white sauce seemed like a good starting point. I followed the recipe with the exception of switching 1/3 cup of honey for the sugar, and added 2 Tbps cornstarch to the creamed honey/butter mixture before adding the white sauce. I only whipped it for a couple of minutes with a hand mixer, and stopped there since I was happy with where it was and didn’t want to risk it changing if I whipped longer. I don’t think it’s as light and fluffy as it would normally be but it had a decent frosting texture (and honey flavor! although adding vanilla helped reduce that).

I made this yesterday and I loved it as I normally use buttercream frosting under my marshmallow fondant and I am finding it to sweet but I am doing another batch today as I am slowly add more icing sugar to make it a bit more harder as I have to put fondant on it so I will see how it goes but this is the best Icing I have ever had it is so smooth and fluffy 🙂 thank you so much I have been hunting every were to find something just like this

I had a request for a frosting that was not as sweet as what I normally make so I wanted to try this recipe. I read the entire website over, (twice)and every comment before I started. While holding my breath, I started and it turned out WONDERFUL!! I couldn`t believe it. The other thing I really liked about this recipe is for once the rose swirl I did on the cupcakes truly looked like a rose. I used a no name butter because that`s all I had, and was willing to throw it all out if it failed. I love this frosting and will make this as my “go to” frosting all the time now. I am now going to try the chocolate version.

I tried this last night. Let me tell you, it was AMAZING!! I had it on a chocalate cake that is my favorite recipe, and omigod. It was like heaven. I tripled it because i thought I’d need more for a 13×9 cake, and i had a ton left over. I put mine in the freezer so it would cool faster. The frosting is PERFECT. LOVE IT.

I just tried this recipe, it tastes good, but way too sweet for me… is it any chance to reduce the sugar? And the granulated sugar isn’t mixed completely, it still rough, I don’t know if I don’t mix it long enough, but I did it more than 8 mins I guess….what if I whisk it along with the flour and milk so the sugar can be melted on the heat, is that possible? it doesn’t come out fluffy 🙁

Mine came out with tiny lumps in it from the flour mixture. It was smooth going into the fridge but I guess it was too solidified? Mine looked much thicker than the picture, so maybe that’s why. Then I mixed it forever with the butter/sugar, really until it started breaking down… then I gave up. I don’t know what happened, but the little chewy pieces were off-putting. And it tasted really… too buttery. I’ll have to try again -_-

I just had to comment on this recipe. What I love most about this is that this frosting isn’t overwhelmingly sweet like most store-bought are. I thought the frosting would be light but you really should’ve seen my face when I first dipped my finger in and tried it. Basically my eyes just widened: O__O. I was completely blown away at how LIGHT and FLUFFY it is. It. is. amazing.

Also wanted to state that I had put my frosted cupcakes in an airtight container on the dining table and the frosting didn’t change it’s consistency in the slightest for two days (I was just grabbing one and eating it whenever I passed by the table).

Sorry for double comment- I also wanted to add that I had some leftover frosting that I had stored in the fridge. I just took it out and whipped it as how I would with the raw ingredients- till light + fluffy. Had same results as the original un-refrigerated batch.

Well it tastes AMAZING, however…..it also looked amazing, wasn’t quite whipped enough so i let it go for another minute (in the thermomix) and right there I think was my mistake….I’m not sure if the thermo cut my sugar (didn’t even think to put it on the reverse speed until just now) or it felt as though the thermo bowl warmed slightly, has anyone got any tips to do this in the thermo pretty please

Okay… I read through quite a few comments and was shocked to see how many people liked this frosting. I followed the recipe to a T and it had perfect texture when I was through but tasted disgusting!! I was so disappointed. It literally tasted like very slightly sweetened butter. Gag. After adding 2 cups of powdered sugar it was tolerable, but still not great. I made it to top the Oreo cake and after sitting for a day it was slightly better, but still. I would never make this frosting again. Yuck!

Mine turned out perfect. My batch didn’t separate at all. I tried it after a minute and I could still feel sugar granules so I beat for 4 mins on medium. It was so fluffy and decorated my red velvet cupcakes perfectly!

I also had no luck with this frosting. I followed the directions exactly as written. It went straight from grainy to runny. The sugar dissolved and it tasted fine but it was super super runny, dripping right off the spatula. This frosting would never hold up on cupcakes.

I saw the tips about continuing to beat it, after 15 minutes on high I saw no improvement so I resorted to tweaking it by adding powdered sugar hoping to thicken it. It did fluff up, but was still too runny to decorate with. It would be fine if you were just slapping it on cake to eat at home for no occasion, but I am making cupcakes for a birthday party and need a stiffer frosting that won’t melt off. I’m tossing it and sticking with buttercream.

On the plus side, your Easy White Cake recipe made the best cupcakes I’ve ever had. I’d be happy to eat them sans frosting!

saw so many positive comments and I cant wait to try it out. I’m wondering, will this frosting melt under a hot/humid weather? Well you see, I come from Malaysia and it is scorching hot everyday! I would like to make cupcakes with delicious (yet not sweet) frostings like yours to sell in the local flea markets and most markets are outdoor. I made frosting once for my sister’s birthday, it didnt turn out pretty but I thought the taste would make up for it.

boy, I was soooo wrong! everyone complaint that it was too sweet and even my 5 year old niece say “ewwwww, this is so sweet!” – at that momnent, i really wanted to dig a hole and hide inside it! 🙁

Just made this unusual recipe because I wanted something less sweet and something that would travel and keep for at least a few hours. I quadrupled the recipe (I needed enough for 2 chiffon cakes, and it came out as you promised! Just delicious! One thing I did to simplify the process was to use the microwave for the first part (the flour and milk). Cooked it at medium heat and it worked perfectly! Thanks!

Thought I’d leave my input after making this recipe last weekend- I veganized it and it turned out perfectly, so if you are looking for a delicious vegan buttercream, you can use this recipe, subbing Earth Balance margarine (yes, the brand is important) and a vegan “milk” (I used a mix of soy creamer and almond milk). I also left out a bit of sugar and used raspberry jam to flavor it. My only complaint was the yield – since it said it barely frosted 12 cupcakes and I had 36 to do, I made a 4x batch. And ended up with a quart of extra frosting…

Is it possible to over-beat it? I’ve made this recipe a couple of times (the taste is absolutely amazing!), but I can’t seem to get the texture right. The batch I made today looks like there’s bits of melted butter that didn’t quite incorporate into the frosting and I had it in the stand mixer for about 9 minutes. Suggestions?

Great frosting. I’ve done this successfully with the addition of cream cheese: substitute 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening for the butter in the recipe, complete the process until your frosting is done. Then whip in 8 oz of cream cheese. Best cream cheese icing ever!

I was skeptical about the perfect frosting filling, but I was successful in my first attempt. I made 4 batches as I did not want to run out. Now I need to make something else to use the left overs!!! Very deelish!!! Thanks for sharing.

Like another poster, I find ths frosting much less hassle than regular buttercreams. I also think that the recipe is extremely forgiving. I think the people who have problems are using room temperature, or soft or melted or runny butter, which, obviously, you would never do when making a regular buttter cream! I started with cold butter straight out of the refrigerator in the Kitchenaid. I also just let the flour paste come to room temperature and it melted the sugar just fine. Texture was great but it tasted like flour before the addition of flavorings. Next time I’ll try cooking the flour more. Since I was making a whiskey frosting, this wasn’t a problem 🙂 I then melted white chocolate mixed it with whiskey, let that cool to room temperature and added it to the whipped frosting and it came out great. Since my cupcake recipe yielded 24 instead of 12 cupcakes, I decided to stretch it by addiing 7 oz of cream cheese and more whiskey/whilte chocolate. The frosting held up to all this abuse just fine 🙂

This frosting is GREAT!!! I came across the recipe when looking for a good cupcake filling (which it was perfect for) and loved it so much, I’ll never go back to canned frosting. Thanks for sharing!! 🙂

I just have to tell you, I don’t like frosting (except cream cheese frosting). It’s all gross, the worst part of any cake or cupcake. I found this recipe on your blog forever ago but I had never made it because I didn’t want to put the extra work into something that I probably wouldn’t like anyway. Oh how I have cheated myself these few years! I made this frosting today substituting the vanilla with Lemon extract to go on top of your lovely recipe for white cupcakes filled with blueberry. Of course I had to taste it and I have to say that I was literally eating it by the spoonful. Oh my gosh! It is so delicious! You ladies truly hit it out of the park every time. I love, love, love you! And so does my family and everyone else that I cook your recipes for. Thank you!

This frosting is awesome… I will start baking again just so I can enjoy it more often.. CAN this be made in larger quanitys to do different colors and or just ziplock bag and freeze to frost with later…..then thaw and use bag to frost from… I bought and used granulated reg. sugar but can a sugar substitute be used for diabetics?

I’ve seen variations of this recipe and, in my mind, I could not see how this would work AND taste good. But I don’t like a sweet icing and after reading the directions for this one I was laughing out loud -“But just you wait.” LMAO!! So, I had to give it a go. Came out sublime!! I am still surprised at the texture and taste – smooth and creamy and not sweet at all. I have a new go-to icing. It’s awesome.

I love this frosting! I am planning on making it for my daughter’s frost your own cupcake party tomorrow. Do you think I could just make the milk and flour portion the night before? Trying to save even a little time.

wow, these blogs are endless. if i had read them before trying out this recipe i would have agreed that so many people had frosting failure because it’s such an ‘unbelievable’ recipe. i cook everything from scratch and this i had to try out to believe. but a miracle happened in the mixer. and now, what looked totally impossible is it’s main characteristic: unbelievably silky, smooth and gently sweet. i did have my butter room soft which your recipe didn’t specify but i think it helped. thanks!

I bake cheesecakes for a living. I’d been looking for a ‘stabalized’ cream that would hold it’s shape with out bleeding oil. I’ve tested many recipes, including yours, and of all of them, yours has the most potential. I never would have considered using flour. The very notion congers thought of dry and pasty. But your’s is surprisingly delicious. Thank you for this, you just gave me a means of topping my mini cheesecakes with a firm yet light topping.

I guess I overestimated by ability to mix as well as a an electric mixer 🙁 I don’t have one so I thought I’d be able to whisk fast enough until I realized neither me or my housemates had a whisk either, so a metal fork had to suffice (I’m in college so that explains my lack of resources). Everything worked out besides that the end result is still very lumpy (small ones) due to the butter, not very fluffy, and my arm is super tired 🙁 I got the sugar to dissolve! And i can tell how good it would be if there weren’t lumps of butter! So despite my failures I just wanted to say it’s still a great recipe and thank you! I shall try again for sure

The recipe looked pretty promising, but my frosting did not turn out! After reading so many great reviews, I’m sure it was probably a simple mistake. Maybe I didn’t mix it long enough. It tasted fine, but the texture was very runny. The outcome was not at all like the picture. I don’t think I will try it again, just in case it really is a bad recipe, but if I did, I would maybe do less milk or mix for longer.

I’m sorry this didn’t work out for you. I can promise it’s a great recipe, as it’s been made and tested thousands of time and is one of our highest rated recipes! Do give it another shot and make sure you use real butter, cook the flour mixture until it’s quite thick, and beat at high speed. I promise it’s fantastic!

Dear Sara! I was so glad to find your frosting recipe and tried it out. It was a HUGE success, all my daughter’s friends loved it. I read that you recommend adding lemon, and am just wondering whether it means lemon pulp or lemon juice. I would like to know whether I could add 1 tablespoon lime juice? Thanks again for your great recipe.

Ya know, I usually stick to extracts because I know they won’t do anything weird to the frosting. Every once and a while when I add fresh zest or something, it causes a strange reaction. That being said, it tastes AMAZING with fresh citrus and I think you would be fine with lime juice. I would test it in a small amount first, just in case. You could also use True lime (look it up on amazon!) which is 100% lime in powder form. That stuff works great!

Hi, I started making this frosting because I “thought” I had some real butter and then realized all I had was Blue Bonnet margarine and almost panicked! I went ahead and tried it anyway and it turned out perfect! My flour/milk was a very thick paste and almost frozen.. Not sure if that helped but it turned out great. Thanks for this delicious recipe.

This frosting is one of the best I have ever tasted. Thank you so much for your detailed instructions and photos. One important point though-You should never use a rubber spatula on a heated surface – it will melt. It looks like you have a silicone spatula, which is designed to withstand heat.

First of all, I would like to start this comment by saying that I never leave comments on anything, ever. BUT this frosting is the bomb, so it has compelled me to break my no comment habit. I can’t stand the buttercream icings loaded with powdered sugar. I always cut the powdered sugar in half when I make them, or, if I have the extra time, I make a swiss meringue. If you are reading this, and you are unsure if you should try this frosting, even after reading all of the other positive comments…. MAKE THIS FROSTING. I made salted caramel cupcakes today, substituted this method for the frosting, and I am so happy with how they came out. The frosting is like a smooth air of yummy goodness that melds together with the cake in your mouth. I can’t wait to see everyone’s face when they take a bite…. it’s that good!

how long can this frosting stay out of the fridge. I dont like to put my cakes in the fridge, thy normalyy dont last that long, but if Im planning to use it for a cake I have been asked to do , Could I make the cake and frost it one day in advance? thanks, You´ve got a great blog

I just made this frosting to top my son’s 12th birthday cake and it is AMAZING!!! I mixed some of it with peanut butter to fill the cake and…YUM!!!! I will definitely be making this frosting again and again! It’s great on it’s own and a perfect base frosting for mix-ins and different flavorings.

Hello, thank you for the wonderful recipe. It’s perfect exactly how it is for lots of different cakes. Today, I made red velvet cake. And doubled the recipe, then after I completed your recipe. I added 1 package of cream cheese to the empty bowl of a stand mixer. Beat it with a whisk until smooth, then added the frosting. And it turned out awesome. Thank you so much!! -Patrick

Thank you so much for this recipe. I have to eat dairy, corn and gluten free so this worked out great. I used coconut milk and a gluten free flour blend. Luckily, I can tolerate butter. This worked out perfectly!

I know this is an old post but this truly is the best frosting that I’ve been making for years. Question for Sara- I want to use this for cupcakes for my son’s bakesale at school. Can it sit at room temp? Just realized this could be a problem and I have no other frosting recipe to use!! 🙁

I wanted to make my frosting in the evening and frost my cupcakes early the next morning so I cooked the flour/milk mixture in the evening and then put it in the fridge with plastic wrap pressed against the top of it and left it there overnight. The next morning I let it warm up just a little and then made my frosting and it worked out perfectly! I’ve actually made it this way twice now and both times worked well but I did learn that the frosting is much softer (but not too soft) and easier to pipe if you let the milk/flour mixture come up to room temperature before you make it.

I have been trying to make this frosting for about 6-7 years! I had it at a bridal shower and I asked for the recipie. I have tried probably 50 times! Today it worked! The blender truck worked like a charm! I am so so so happy! I have been dreaming of eating this again for so many years now!